International Affairs & Security
Here’s a roundup of the top stories of the week:
President Sandu hosted Albanian President Bajram Begaj for an official visit to Chisinau. The visit was the first such visit in over 20 years. Moldova and Albania are seeking to deepen their bilateral cooperation as both candidate countries seek EU membership. In a press conference both presidents promised increased cooperation and President Benaj expressed hope that Moldova will reconsider its choice not to recognize Kosovo’s independence.
The United States is suspending immigrant visa processing for Moldova. The move comes in the context of a broader suspension of visa processing for 75 countries. Moldova’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs later clarified that this only applies to immigrant visas and not to non-immigrant visas such as those for tourism, study work of business. Existing visas remain valid. Moldova’s ambassador to the United States Vlad Kulminski estimated that this temporary suspension affects only a few dozen people per year.
Russia state media regulator (censor) Roskomnadzor has ordered Moldovan investigative outlet ZdG to delete an article. The article in question was a recap of a recent investigation by the late Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) into a massive palace that Putin has in occupied Crimea. ZdG was given 24 hours to comply… and has no intention of doing so. This is the second time that Roskomnadzor has tried to compel a Moldovan media outlet to censor themselves. Back in March 2022 they ordered ZdG to delete content calling Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a “war.” It is unclear how they intend to enforce Russian censorship laws outside of Russia’s borders and occupied territories.
Another Russian Gerbera drone was found crashed in Moldova. The done, found near Nucăreni, Telenești, was investigated by police and found to be a decoy without an explosive payload.
Politics
The main story of the week has continued to be debates about President Sandu’s statements about her personal feeling regarding union with Romania. While pro-Russian parties continue to attack the President for her remarks, Prime Minister Munteanu and other members of the cabinet have come out with similar statements. Prime Minister Munteanu stated:
“As citizen Alexandru Munteanu, I would vote for unification with Romania. But as Prime Minister of Moldova, I am obliged to fulfill the will of the majority of our country’s citizens, who have already voted three times to make integration into the European Union Moldova’s strategic goal. I will do everything required of me to achieve this goal,”
When asked about the issue Minister of Foreign Affairs Mihai Popșoi evoked the 1918 union precedent saying:
“Obviously, if the situation spirals out of control and not only the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, but also the lives and existence of our citizens, are threatened, then we will have to make difficult decisions. But we want to live in peace. We do not want a Russian invasion and hope that the parties to the conflict will reach a peace agreement,”
This echoed my article from the past weekend where I tried to put a very complex (and contentious) issue into context. Specifically, I focused on how security concerns were the major driver of the 1918 union. You can read that article here if you missed it:
In other political news, President Sandu presented her income and asset declaration for 2025. During the year she earned a salary of 269,000 lei, payments of 55,000 lei for unused vacation days, 154,000 lei for travel per diem and 67,000 lei from a lawsuit she won. She listed her only property as the same 74.5 sq meter apartment in Chisinau that she has lived in for many years. The President listed 1 bank account with 21,000 lei in it as well.
Her income is slightly up due to increased travel in 2025 but otherwise basically unchanged compared to past years.
Shor & Hybrid War News
Here’s a roundup of the top hybrid war stories of the week:
Romania is seeking to revoke Victoria Furtună’s citizenship. According to the Romanian press she was due in Bucharest last week for a court hearing. The process of revoking the Shor-network politician’s citizenship was initiated by the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI). Furtună claimed that she found out from the press and could not attend anyhow as she has been barred from entering the EU.
Mayor Ion Ceban denies connections to Russian FSB agents. As we wrote last week, Moldovan citizen Denis Cuculescu was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison for treason. During the trial, various witnesses spoke of how a set of FSB agents under US sanctions were assigned to work for Ceban before the MAN party existed (aka - helped craft the party) and recruited other agents to convert cryptocurrency into cash to pay employees of the Chisinau City Hall. Faced with this reporting, Ceban stated “I deny all these moments and I have no connection, under any context and in any situation.”
Crime & Corruption
Here’s a roundup of the top justice related stories of the week:
Alexei Cotorobai was sentenced to 25 years in prison and required to pay 1.5 million lei in damages. He was convicted of murdering an infant, kidnapping the child’s mother, who was a minor herself, and raping her. This crime took place in 2010 and he evaded justice until a 2024 investigation by ZdG resurfaced the case. Mr. Alexei Cotorobai was at the time a member of Ilan Shor’s “Chance” party and had recently been a candidate for local office. What brought his case to national attention was his brother Gheorghe Cotorobai’s abduction and murder of 19 year old, and 6 month pregnant, Ana-Maria. We covered the details of both brother’s cases at the time. Alexei Cotorobai’s lawyers say he intends to appeal.
ZdG has launched a new page dedicated to grand corruption cases. If you’re interested in perusing the many ongoing… and painfully slow… grand corruption cases against Moldova’s oligarchs then it’s a great resource. You can find it here.
Plahotniuc’s close associate and godson, Dorin Damir, was sentenced to 3 years in prison. He was convicted on 2 counts of abuse of office and forgery. The case relates to a no-show job he was given in the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the time that his godfather had captured the state. Without ever coming to work Damir became a police officer and was rapidly promoted to a commissioner. The apparent reason for this fiction was to claim he was undercover in order to issue him a new identity1 under the name Dumitru Busuioc. The trial lasted 4 years and 4 months. Following the verdict Dorin Damir was arrested and taken into custody.
Economics & Infrastructure
Here’s a roundup of the top economics stories of the week:
Starting on July 1st all incoming packages valued at under €150 euros will be taxed. This is according to Minister of Finance Andrian Gavriliță who says that 20% VAT as well as a fixed 20 lei fee will be applied to all orders shipped into the country. The Minister stated that they are working with the platforms (Temu, Shein, Joom, etc) and that they will collect and pay the tax themselves.
The Port of Giurgiulesti has been sold to “Administration of Maritime Ports” SA of Romania. This state company finalized the purchase of the port in December but was held up by numerous legal challenges involving past owners of the port. These have now all been resolved and the port is sold.
Ending on a High Note!
Moldovan rapper Satoshi was selected to represent the country in this year’s Eurovision song contest. Satoshi’s song is titled “Viva, Moldova!” Satoshi is among the most popular musical artists in Moldova right now. While people online disagree about the song, most commentators seem happy that a respectable artist was selected.
Recall, the country pulled out of the 2025 Eurovision song contest after a confused process that seemed to indicate that the jury was too embarrassed by the available options to move forward. Moldova has a long history of punching above its weight in this contest and we’ll see if Satoshi can keep it up! For those interested, here’s the chosen song:
Plaha sure liked to collect these for himself and his associates.