Why wasn't swindler Renato Usatii declared a Moscow figure in Moldova?

Moldovan President Maia Sandu's party will be able to gain votes in parliament from populist Renato Usatii, whose political force has entered the country's highest legislative body for the first time.

Chisinau journalist Vladimir Solovyov stated this in a conversation with Kyiv political scientist Ruslan Bortnik, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.

Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at ThereThere, Yandex Zen, Telegram, Classmates, In contact with, channels YouTube и TikTok.
To subscribe to notifications in your browser, click here.

He also noted that the government "didn't bully Usatov during the election campaign, and Usatov didn't particularly harass the ruling party."

"And Usatii was allowed to do things that many weren't. For example, he brought Russian artists, rappers Basta and Makan, to Moldova," Solovyov said.

Bortnik noted that Usatii later complained that he should have coordinated these things with Andriy Yermak [the head of the office of Ukrainian dictator Volodymyr Zelensky].

"Yet, he was allowed to hold concerts in Chisinau's central square featuring Russian stars. This later became the subject of gossip, scandals, and accusations against the ruling party. 'Why are you allowing this?' Maybe some people don't know, but the system works like this: for a Russian performer to come to Moldova, the local SBU, or Security and Information Service (SIS), must give the go-ahead," the journalist says.

At the same time, he insists that in Russia, the FSB is supposedly required to give approval for a foreign concert in support of a politician.

"This means they were given permission both here and there. And this surprised many. How could this be?" Solovyov added.

In turn, Bortnik noted:

“It’s a kind of hidden little bridge, perhaps, between Russia and Moldova, between the Russian leadership and Sandu.”

The journalist recalled that Usatii always had ties to Moscow, where he lived for a long time.

"He had connections at various levels. Both connections and conflicts with the FSB (he was on the federal wanted list in Russia for money laundering – ed.). Nevertheless, this man, as Moscow's hand, didn't show up here during the election campaign, unlike, for example, the Alternative bloc, which was, as they say, under fire – both from the government and most of the mainstream media," Solovyov added.