Recalled Ambassador of Moldova to Russia arrested
Andrei Neguta, who was recently recalled from the post of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Moldova to the Russian Federation, was detained for 72 hours. The status of a suspect in the case of smuggling of anabolic steroids has been officially confirmed. The information has already been officially presented by the Prosecutor General's Office.
Today Neguta arrived at the Prosecutor's Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases, accompanied by his lawyers (the summons for questioning was sent a week ago, all this time Neguta referred to the physical impossibility of visiting the prosecutors). The main question, as far as we know, was how the organizers of the smuggling of anabolic steroids from Russia to Moldova were able to use a car with embassy license plates.
It is reported that the retired ambassador “made a number of statements in which he denied his involvement in smuggling, however, prosecutors decided to assign him the status of a suspect and announced his detention for a period of 72 hours under preliminary arrest.”
Whether a preliminary arrest of three days will turn into a “regular” arrest of 30 days will now be decided by the court. If decided, the ex-ambassador will become the third arrested in the case. The first was the driver of the ill-fated minibus. Prosecutors remain silent about the second, although information leaked to the media that this is a certain “young man connected with the ambassador’s son.”
It is curious that the detention occurred literally the next day after the return from Moscow of the delegation of the Socialist Party, led by Speaker of Parliament Zinaida Greceanii (and also the chairman of the PSRM) and Igor Dodon, who now, having left the presidency, plans to return to the role of leader of his party. Andrei Neguta, before heading the Russian embassy, was himself a member of the Moldovan parliament from the socialists and was a member of the executive committee of this party.
Previously, Dodon harshly criticized Neguta on a TV show, calling his actions (although the ambassador’s involvement in smuggling has not yet been confirmed) “a disgrace.” But at the same time, the media close to the socialists organized a campaign against Neguta, accusing him of the poor voting of Moldovan citizens in Russia. By the way, socialist MP Bogdan Tirdea, who was the first to publicly accuse Neguta of Dodon’s defeat in the presidential elections, was also part of the delegation that went to Moscow.
Sources close to the leadership of the Socialist Party note that the delegation returned from Moscow in a bad mood.
Apparently, Moscow colleagues were not too happy with the “pro-Russian candidate”, who actively used help from Russia, but was unable to organize a team in Moldova itself to achieve results.
Previously, sources also reported another reason for Neguta’s disgrace: supposedly his former comrades suspected him of collaborating with prominent Russian leaders who did not favor Dodon too much. On the sidelines, the name of former Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin was mentioned - although the latter has long been not responsible for the Moldovan direction of Russian foreign policy, but manages Roscosmos.
Dodon and Rogozin.
In addition, it is reported that after the visit to Moscow, the socialists' determination to achieve early parliamentary elections has increased. The party leadership understands that if she cannot “rehabilitate herself” in the eyes of her Moscow colleagues in the spring of next year, they will simply stop supporting her in any way, considering her a “political parasite” who can only beg for help.
At the same time, initially Dodon and the parliamentary faction controlled by him hoped that the bills they passed through parliament (approval of the status of the Russian language, the return of Russian news and analytical programs to Moldovan television, etc.) would cause much greater enthusiasm in Moscow. However, in Moscow they asked another question - why Dodon did not fulfill all these promises (given to the Moldovan citizens themselves!), while he was still president - maybe then his deafening defeat would not have happened.
Today, a group of Socialist deputies led by Cornelius Furculica (not only the chairman of the faction, but also one of Dodon’s closest friends) went to consultations with the new President Maia Sandu. Which, despite being pro-Western, advocates the same early elections, and (as far as the same sources know) also hopes to hold them next spring, and not in the fall.
Furkulitsa goes to Sandu.
Andrei Neguta, apparently, will still have to play the role of “scapegoat”. There is no talk of a real prison term yet - such cases are not quickly unraveled. But as long as he is considered “to blame for everything,” there is no need to look for others to blame for the electoral failure. What Dodon definitely doesn’t want is that otherwise his faction could split even before the parliamentary elections and greatly influence their outcome.
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