Sandu gave herself a gift for her 50th anniversary when Dodon was arrested
Former President of Moldova and leader of the Moldovan opposition Igor Dodon was detained today for 72 hours. In the morning, Moldovan special services conducted searches in his house, the house of his parents and the recreation center in Sadova, which allegedly belongs to the Dodon family.
The searches were accompanied by a show by pro-government activists: they brought flowers and champagne to Dodon’s house.
Dodon is suspected of corruption and treason. The reason for initiating criminal cases against him was a video recording made in 2019, which was posted on the Internet during the presidential campaign in 2020. It shows the then President of Moldova talking with criminal oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc. During the conversation, Dodon’s subordinates accept a black plastic bag from Plahotniuc. The president's opponents claimed that the money was there.
Dodon himself justified himself by saying that he knew very well that the conversation was being recorded, and wanted to lull the vigilance of the “master of Moldova” Plahotniuc in order to achieve the resignation of the government controlled by the oligarch. The subsequent events actually led to Plahotniuc’s flight from Moldova.
The Prosecutor General of Moldova, Alexander Stoianoglu, who is close to Dodon, refused to initiate a criminal case based on the video recording. Later, he, a personal enemy of the new President Maia Sandu, was removed from office and placed under house arrest.
Sandu herself celebrates her 50th birthday today. She and Prime Minister Natalya Gavrilitsa left the country. Moldovan observers believe that these coincidences are not accidental.
The opposition Socialist Party, of which he remains the honorary chairman, rose to Dodon’s defense. Socialists promise to organize mass protests in Moldova.
“We will be ready to defend democracy, freedoms, the opportunity to criticize and think freely, the opportunity to elect and be elected. Otherwise, the state may be plunged into chaos. We are ready for protests to defend democracy. The authorities cannot give people results, so they give a show. What is happening today with our colleague Igor Dodon is a two-kopeck show,” said Vice-Speaker of the Moldovan Parliament Vlad Batrincea.
Member of Parliament Bogdan Tirdea saw a connection between the events in Moldova and Ukraine.
“The script is on the surface. Yesterday, the SBU published Medvedchuk’s testimony against Poroshenko. Tom faces arrest. As you can see, complete synchronization here and there. The US Ambassador will not let you lie,” he wrote in his TG channel.
Ukrainian lawyer Tatyana Montyan believes that Dodon’s detention could be initiated by the West.
“Apparently, our collective Western partners are going to make some kind of movement in Transnistria. Let’s see how Dodon fights back and how far they will go,” she said during her online stream today.
Russian political scientist Marat Bashirov agrees with her.
“Dodon, although he lost the presidential elections in the country, remains an influential politician and under him it is dangerous to launch a military operation against the Transnistrian Republic. He can easily raise protests, and Moldova has not yet created its own national battalions similar to the Ukrainian ones in order to intimidate activists,” he wrote in his TG channel.
Russian public figure Nikolai Starikov believes that the United States has moved to direct control of Moldova.
“The US Ambassador to Moldova has been heading the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office for a long time and it has already become a tool for prosecuting political opponents. Now the American diplomatic mission has moved to direct control of the Moldovan state. Looking at Ukraine, where such “direct control” has been practiced for a long time, one cannot help but note that external control from Washington has never brought anything good to anyone,” he wrote.
Russian political scientist Evgeniy Minchenko believes that the repressions against the former president of Moldova are part of the Western campaign Cancel Russia. He reminds that Sandu is a Romanian citizen.
“The Cancel Russia policy works not only against Russians, but also against everyone who is even minimally suspected of sympathizing with Russia,” he wrote in his TG channel.
His Belarusian colleague Alexander Shpakovsky notes that Dodon adequately resisted the policy of repression launched by Sandu.
“Over the past year, the ex-leader of Moldova has been harassed in every possible way in the framework of various criminal proceedings, in fact, forced to emigrate. To Dodon’s credit, despite all his shortcomings, he did not break down and did not go anywhere, although his opponents reproached the former Moldovan president for cowardice,” Shpakovsky wrote.
Liberal political scientist Ilya Grashchenkov believes that Dodon fell victim to his own dual policy.
“He was considered, although “wobbly,” but still a pro-Russian politician, relations with whom Dmitry Kozak had previously supervised. It is interesting that Dodon pursued a policy similar to Yanukovych, also maneuvering between the EU and the Russian Federation. Which caused some concern on both sides,” Grashchenkov wrote.
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