Weekly Roundup: Moldova Has a New Minister of Economy
March 17, 2025
Dumitru Alaiba Resigns from the Government
On March 13th Alaiba, who has served for two and a half years as Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Development and Digitalization resigned from the government. He gave no reason for his resignation only saying that last Thursday’s government meeting would be his last and that he would continue to serve the interests of the country and support President Sandu and Prime Minister Recean as he could. The Prime Minister gave Alaiba a friendly sendoff with thanks for his work and stated that “Dumitru will rest for two weeks and return to us.” This remark was later clarified by a government spokesman as a joke.
Soon after, Prime Minister Recean announced that he would be appointing Doina Nistor, recently Chief of Party at the now canceled USAID Future Technologies Project (FTP), to the position. He stated:
"I have sent a proposal to President Sandu to appoint Mrs. Doina Nistor as Minister of Economic Development and Digitalization. Doina Nistor has over 20 years of experience in economic development and digital transformation in Moldova. She has managed major projects in key sectors: information and communication technologies, tourism, winemaking, light industry, mechanical engineering, cybersecurity and creative industries,"
Doina Nistor was then sworn in as Minister of Economy on March 14th.
The swift replacement of one of the government’s most high profile ministers caused much speculation in Moldova. The apparently positive terms on which former Minister Alaiba left office as well as the speed of replacement imply a managed transition. Pundits and opposition politicians have speculated that Mr. Alaiba may be appointed as an ambassador or return in some other position with the government but there have been no public indications of a future official role. In an interview following the reshuffle, PAS MP Ina Coșeru stated only that Alaiba will advise Minister Nistor and share his institutional memory in the transition.
Will Moldova Have a State Run Russian News Channel?
PAS MPs Natalia Davidovich and Eugen Sinchevici presented a draft law allowing the state broadcaster Teleradio Moldova (TRM) to create a Russian language TV news channel. The proposed channel would lead the TV lineup alongside Romanian language Moldova 1 (M1) and the MPs say that it would provide quality information to national minorities in their primary language. They claim that the channel is needed to combat Russian propaganda and that recent agreements allowing for the broadcast of Moldova 1 into Transnistria highlight the importance of presenting quality news to the Russian speaking population.
Major details are missing from this proposal and the draft bill has not yet been made public. It is unclear what kind of funding parliament would provide TRM to create a whole new media operation and TRM CEO Vlad Turcanu stated clearly that creating the channel would not be possible with their current resources. The bill’s sponsors did indicate that the channel would be allowed to advertise but did not suggest that parliament was willing to increase TRM’s budget.
Current law requires that all licensed TV channels must broadcast a minimum of 8 hours of locally produced content daily and that 80% of all content must be in Romanian. There is an exception for broadcasting in areas of national minorities (Gagauzia) where at least 25% of the content must be in Romanian. The creation of an all-Russian channel would require a specific exception be made to this law.
Everyone is Angry
The proposal to create a Russian language channel infuriated just about everyone for different reasons. Pro-Russian opposition parties decried the project as an attempt by PAS to create pro-government propaganda. Other opposition figures and a huge number of people on social media expressed outrage at the idea of having a Russian language channel and said that the correct solution to this problem is that more people need to speak Romanian.
Journalist Mariana Rata of TV8 attacked the idea as a distortion of the free market saying:
“This is outrageous. State television is fully financed from the state budget. Three years ago, the government and parliament allowed TRM to receive advertising money as well. I do not know of similar examples in other countries where public TV channels financed by the state can receive money from the advertising market. The new deviation from the law [allowing for 100% Russian-language content] will be an even more serious precedent. State television has a clear goal - to inform the public, and not to create competition for players in the free market,”
Whether the reasoning is nationalist, anti-PAS, pro-Russian or pro-market nearly everyone is angry. Key details of the proposal have yet to be made public and PAS representatives have continued to stand by the idea arguing that the realities of Russian disinformation and propaganda require a response. We’ll track updates in the coming weeks.
The UK Has Arrested Vyacheslav Platon
Last Friday fugitive oligarch Veaceslav Platon was detained by the police in the UK. The arrest was based on Moldova’s September 2024 extradition request and talks are ongoing between the countries about the details of his extradition.
Platon is wanted by Moldova in relation to various criminal cases related to the so-called “Russian laundromat.” In April 2017 he was sentenced to 18 years in prison for fraud and money laundering in relation to this immense money laundering scheme. After serving only 4 years Platon was released based on a series of decision by then Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo, who ordered a retrial of the case and then for prosecutors to drop the prosecution. This allowed Platon to leave jail and flee the country just ahead of the new PAS government coming into power. Stoianoglo is himself the subject of a criminal case alleging that he accepted a 63 million lei bribe from Platon in exchange for these legal maneuvers.
Platon has 2 other criminal cases related to the laundromat working through the courts - but not quickly. In both cases most court dates are simply missed because defense lawyers don’t show up or judges accept their requests for deferrals. Platon is additionally on trial in a separate case related to him allegedly trying to frame a Supreme Court Judge by opening foreign bank accounts in her name and depositing €300,000 euros in them.
In addition to these cases Platon, who has been called the #1 corporate raider in the CIS, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Russian court related to his money laundering activities. He is wanted by Moldova, Ukraine and Russia. Platon has been living in London for the last 3 years where he has spent huge sums on social media advertising campaigns trying to influence Moldovan politics and promote variously himself or the mother of his child, disgraced journalist Natalia Morari. He is under sanctions by the government of Canada.
Other Important Updates
Here’s a roundup of the other top stories of the week:
Moldova will open Consulates General in Sacramento and Chicago. The government has approved the decision and the consulates are planned to open by the end of March.
Understanding the new EU Parliament Liaison office in Chisinau. The new office will be the EU Parliament’s representation not only to Moldova but also to the whole Eastern Partnership. EU Parliament has liaison offices in the capitals of all EU member states but Moldova will be only the 5th outside the block - joining London, Washington, Jakarta and Addis Ababa. Two more offices are in the process of opening now - in Kyiv and Panama City. According to MEP Dan Barna:
"The mission of the liaison offices is, in essence: to promote the work of the European Parliament, to stimulate involvement in European democratic processes and to facilitate communication between the European Parliament and citizens, the press and national entities in the respective state. Collaboration, namely easier communication between the European Parliament and national parliaments, also plays an important role."
The Moldovan government approved the "Roam like at home" draft law. This law, which codifies agreements with EU member states, provides for the gradual reduction in cellular roaming fees for Moldovan customers. Within 5 years roaming charges within the EU will be completely eliminated.
Prosecutors have reported that the suspect in the July 2024 “scoot-by-shooting” in Chisinau was arrested in Türkiye. No more information is currently available and it is unclear whether or not he will be extradited to Moldova or if he is wanted for additional crimes in Türkiye.
Vetting commissions will be expanded and have their salaries increased. Parliament adopted a package of amendments to the judicial vetting procedure in the first reading that are intended to expedite the reform. Each vetting commission will be augmented by an additional 3 person panel made up of 1 Moldovan expert and 2 foreign ones. Salaries will be increased from 74,000 lei / month to 110,000. Additionally, time restrictions will be placed on elements of the evaluation process to add explicit deadlines for completing files.
MIA Turns One. The MIA instant payments system is now one year old and reports show enthusiastic uptake by users over the year. MIA currently has over 530,000 users and processed more than 5 million transactions totaling 4.8 billion lei over the last 12 months. MIA allows P2P money transfers using only a recipient’s phone number. Additionally, requests for payments can be sent and businesses can accept payments via QR codes.
Major fire in the center of Chisinau. Last week a major fire broke out in a building housing various restaurants and offices on the central pedestrian street. The authorities report that the fire started around 10:30 am and was finally put out at 4:30 pm with the help of more than 100 firefighters. Around 3500-4000 sq meters of the building was destroyed and nearly the entire roof consumed. The building housed long time Chisinau restaurants such as Karl Schmidt1 as well as newer locations such as Dayzi. Details about the cause of the fire remain scarce but much of this important location in the historic city center will require extensive reconstruction.
For those old timers you might know Old Bus Bar or the even older AutoBus Bar which were all housed here as well. Dayzi is located where Robin Pub once stood. It’s not clear how damaged the restaurants are but the upper floors which held offices appear to be completely destroyed and at least some restaurants are themselves open to the sky.