The Nistru oil spill has shown Moldova how fragile a society becomes without access to clean drinking water. We must start taking environmental security seriously and treat it as a critical national, regional and international priority. My reported op-ed: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The Economist’s Democracy Index downgraded Moldova from “flawed democracy” to “hybrid regime” for issues with political culture, participation, governance. The label was last used for RM during Plahotniuc. Romania is meanwhile upgraded from “hybrid regime” to “flawed democracy”

Moody’s has improved Moldova’s rating from B3 to B2, the best result in 28 years, thanks to political stability, reforms and less dependence on Russia. Meanwhile, Russian interference in Moldova, especially via Transnistria, is still seen as a risk moldova.europalibera.org/a/intre-un-s...

New and old Kremlin players in Moldova: Victor Perțu worked for Shor for years. He was detained for organising mass destabilisations in 2022. Now he is running for Orhei local elections, on behalf of Democracy Home (Democratia acasa), a rapidly rising populist party

On 7-8 April 2009 Valeriu Boboc was killed by the police after protesting against rigged elections. His son, Dragoș, is now 17. Moldova has not fully elucidated who stayed behind the protester violence, the passivity of the police during the day and the following repressions

More oil stains have been spotted on the river Nistru in the north of Moldova www.facebook.com/share/14YHVN...

Angela Merkel & Donald Trump as seen by Moldovan artist Ștefan Eșanu

Another Shahed drone found in Moldova, near the southern border with Ukraine. What does Moldova do with its collection of Russian drones? Could we study them and build our own? www.zdg.md/stiri/stiri-...

Remember to hang your Mărțișor on a blossom tree!

Maia Sandu in Riga: “Supporting Ukraine, anchoring Moldova in the EU, and defending the integrity of our democracies are not three separate objectives. They have the same strategic logic. … Not as an act of generosity. As an act of strategic coherence.” presedinte.md/eng/discursu...

Romanian news of the day: After being stolen from a Dutch museum last year, an ancient golden helmet and two of three bracelets have been returned to Romania hotnews.ro/coiful-de-la...

End of an era: Moldova has left the Community of Independent States via a final parliamentary law after denouncing 283 agreements. After notifying CIS of the vote, the exit will be official within a year. moldova.europalibera.org/a/r-moldova-...

Moldova’s Russian assets on a parliamentary visit in Georgia. Interesting to see openly Kremlin-allied Dodon and Țîrdea next to Costiuc, who says he is pro-European and pro-reunification with Romania

After a Shahed drone illegally crossed into Moldova’s territory yesterday, around the 20k tonnes of arms depot at Cobasna, Ukraine has fortified its defense near Transnistria, the Russian-controlled region of Moldova

If we stopped Russia’s aggression against Moldova [in 1992], we wouldn’t have had to face Russia’s attack in Georgia [in 2008]. If we stopped Russia’s aggression against Georgia, we wouldn’t have had the Russian aggression in Ukraine - Volodymyr Humenyuk, Armed Forces of Ukraine

Good news: Ukrainians have fixed the Isaccea-Vulcanesti line which was shelled by Russia five days ago. Moldova declared a state of energy emergency following the attack and advised citizens to save electricity during peak hours in order to avoid blackouts

Happy Moldova-Romania reunification day! I celebrated it at a stunning concert featuring the Bucharest National Opera Orchestra, the Chisinau Choral Choir Doina, soprano Ana Cebotari and other extraordinary artists. Reunification at its most beautiful!

Moldovans will need to save energy in peak hours in order to avoid power cuts due to Russia’s attack of the Ukrainian energy grid www.zdg.md/stiri/scenar...

Moldova’s government is about to declare a state of emergency in energy after Russian shelling on Ukrainian energy infrastructure last night have affected Moldova’s power grid www.facebook.com/share/v/1DaM...

Although Ukraine said it stopped the oil spillover, new stains have been identified on the river Nistru near Unguri, Ocnița, according to Moldova’s Ministry of the Environment deschide.md/articole/noi...

Moldovan prosecutors have asked for a 25-year sentence for oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc for moneylaundering, fraud, creating a criminal network www.zdg.md/stiri/ultima...

After 34 years, Moldovan peacekeepers on the river Nistru have finally been granted the right to wear the Moldovan flag on their shoulders. Until now only Russian “peacekeepers” were allowed that. www.zdg.md/stiri/politi...

The queue for Brancusi’s exhibition opening at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin last night

Moldova environmental alert: oil continues to spill into the Nistru river since 7 March, following Russia’s attack over the Novodnistrovsk power plant. People from the northern town of Balti, the regions of Floresti, Soroca have been left without water moldova.europalibera.org/a/mai-grav-d...

Cute: Kyiv will be celebrating Romanian Language Day on 31 August together with Moldova and Romania. Before 2023, Ukraine still differentiated between Romanian and “Moldovan language” (a Soviet invention). 31 August 1989 is the day when Moldovans went back to the Latin script

I wanted to shake the protagonist of this Turkish classic at first (same shy type like in Orhan Pamuk’s lit). Then I got fully immersed in the atmosphere of interwar Berlin. Although (spoiler alert!) everyone dies at the end, I was happy that at least they committed to each other

Putin's wars are all wars of choice, pursued for imperialist restoration, out of a position of strength and expected impunity. One of Russia's greatest propaganda achievements convincing the bulk of American pundits and IR folks that it fights out of fear, humiliation, and prevention.

Many in Moldovan civil society criticised ruling party PAS’s decision to change the law & allow for the head of the vetting commission to be voted in by 51 rather than 61 Members of Parliament. Now the European Commission says Moldova should have consulted the Venice Commission

If in London, come discover bestselling Moldovan/Romanian author Tatiana Țîbuleac, whose powerful novels have been translated in 17 languages. I'll be joining the discussion this Friday, 13th March, at 5-7pm, at University College London. Register here: www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...

Some nice personal news: I’m on the short list for the EU Prize for Literature for my book “It’s Both Heaven and Hell Here. Moldova: a Century of Lived History”. The winner will be announced in Warsaw in May 🥳

Nine people holding political positions in the Russian-controlled region of Transnistria have been stripped of their Moldovan citizenship www.zdg.md/stiri/stiri-...

Moldovan humour. Steven the Great is our national icon, who holds the cross in his hand in the middle of Chisinau, for he founded many monasteries as he fought the occupying Turks in the Middle Ages. And the wine, well, you know we make great wines. Always happy to explain jokes

Among the conditions put forward by the EU in a Russia-Ukraine peace deal, Russia would be banned military presence in Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Armenia, as well as electoral interference and hybrid operations www.svoboda.org/a/kallas-pre...

One of the EU’s conditions for a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv is for Russia to withdraw its troops from Moldova’s region of Transnistria, according to Kaja Kallas www.svoboda.org/a/kallas-pre...

Ukrainian & Moldovan police carried investigations into Russian operations to assassinate high profile Ukrainian officials yesterday. President Sandu revoked the 2022 decree which pardoned one of the suspects, who first served in a Russian prison www.zdg.md/stiri/operat...

Our latest. Infuriating. www.occrp.org/en/investiga...

Tensions between the Russian and Romanian Churches in Moldova have taken over a chapel in the village of Dereneu split between the two entities. Three of the priests on the frontline of this conflict were trained by Shor in Moscow anticoruptie.md/ro/investiga...

Estonia’s intelligence report 2026: Russia’s attempt to topple Moldova’s pro-Western government has failed, but it will not be the last: the Kremlin will almost certainly learn from its mistakes and make another attempt to hijack Moldova’s statehood. raport.valisluureamet.ee/2026/en/summ...

It’s not all roses but the angle is interesting www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Postcards from Moldova’s National Olympics Committee

Chisinau mayor Ion Ceban’s links to the Russian secret services are once again in the spotlight in this fresh investigation from Moldovan thinktank WatchDog. Ceban says he is pro-European, while being banned in the Schengen area for security reasons www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg9u...

Hilarious www.threads.com/@victorpatra...

Romania’s populist party AUR has sued the lobby firm BGD Legal & Consulting LLC for over $4.5 million for failing to organise its leader George Simion a meeting with Trump, JD Vance or other top American officials during the electoral campaign & obtain a Politico article on it 1/

Romania has exported armament worth 35 million euros to Israel in 2025, a journalistic investigation from Snoop shows. Commercial flights operated by state airline Tarom and independent airline HiSky transported weapons next to passengers’ luggage snoop.ro/drumul-armel...

Estonia is opening an embassy in Moldova, said Chisinau Parliament speaker Igor Grosu www.zdg.md/stiri/estoni...

Large parts of Moldova have been experiencing blackouts over the past few hours due to Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Emergency help is coming from Romania. Temperatures outside are -5 degrees Celsius

“If you look at Moldova across all sorts of indices, it's on top of everything. It's impressive progress, with an overhaul of the judicial system, the anticorruption institutions, and the party system” kyivindependent.com/chart-of-the...

Former MP & kickboxer Constantin Țuțu, an ally of the Moldovan oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, was sentenced to 8 years in prison for fraud, falsehood, influence peddling. Last week, another Plahotniuc ally, businessman & judoko Dorin Damir, received a 3-year sentence for forgery

Iranians were promised US help and they took to the streets because they were promised that help. Now thousands have died and that is also Donald Trump’s responsibility - Iranian-Romanian architect & activist Omid Ghannadi on Euronews today

Maia Sandu’s declaration that she supports Moldova’s reunification with Romania “was forced as an assessment: if the international order changes from a liberal to a ‘realist’ one, Moldova has to choose how it disappears”. My piece for @KyivIndependent kyivindependent.com/facing-russi...