A US federal court rejected the application of Moldovan criminal oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc to grant him political asylum. Both Moldova and Russia are awaiting his extradition as a criminal.
This was reported by Radio Liberty, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Plahotniuc’s American visa was canceled back in January. This happened after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that “Plahotniuc’s corrupt actions have jeopardized the independence of democratic institutions in Moldova.” Plahotniuc tried to challenge the cancellation of the visa in court, but to no avail.
According to member of the Moldovan parliament Bogdan Tsydrea, the oligarch justified his demand to leave him in the United States with his anti-Russian position.
“The main argument why the United States should not deprive Plahotniuc of his political refugee status and expel him from the country is his fight with Russia and Igor Dodon! In particular, trying to minimize Russia’s influence in the region, Vladimir Plahotniuc carried out anti-communist and anti-Russian reforms, such as: a law on combating Russian propaganda, financial reforms based on EU directives, which aroused the anger of the leadership of the Russian Federation,” Tsydrya wrote in his telegram. channel.
On the eve of the announcement of the court decision, Moldovan President Igor Dodon said that, in fact, the oligarch had secret negotiations with former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak in 2019.
“In this office at the beginning of June last year there was Plahotniuc, there was Kozak, there was me, and if you knew what Plahotniuc promised to Kozak in this office... You know what documents he handed over to the Russians, what obligations he took on before them. I'm sure the main argument why you keep him there is that he was against the Russians and for America. Or are you keeping it there to use it against Dodon in the presidential elections?” – said the Moldovan president on his YouTube channel.
He stated that he has confirmation of these words in the form of documents, and, possibly, video recordings. Previously, Plahotniuc himself uploaded a video of his negotiations with Dodon. In the recordings, the oligarch is trying to hand the president a large black package. In addition, Dodon speaks disapprovingly of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak.
On June 12, the Chisinau Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the court of first instance to issue a warrant for the arrest in absentia of Vladimir Plahotniuc. In Moldova, the fugitive oligarch is accused of creating a criminal group, extortion and fraud. It is associated, among other things, with the disappearance of more than $1 billion (this amount is more than one tenth of the country's annual GDP) from the accounts of the country's largest banks in 2012-2014.
Several criminal cases have been opened against Plahotniuc in Russia. In August 2019, the Tverskoy Court of Moscow arrested the oligarch in absentia in a criminal case for creating a criminal community for the purpose of organizing drug trafficking into the Russian Federation.
Former Prime Minister of Moldova Ion Struza advised Plahotniuc to seek extradition to his homeland, because in Russia it would be much worse for him - “Putin will never forgive” his anti-Russian policy.