Vlad Plahotniuc

Human rights activists from the "Occupy Guguta" movement in Moldova unveiled a banner on Tuesday night at the national football match between Moldova and Turkey, with a critical message for the authoritarian Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Moldovan law-enforcement authorities have issued a national arrest warrant for Ilan Shor, the alleged mastermind behind the "grand theft" of one billion US dollars from the Moldovan banking system in 2014, who is believed to have left the country in mid-July.

The General Prosecutor's Office in Moldova announced on Tuesday that it has initiated a criminal investigation into the country's pro-Russian President Igor Dodon over allegations that his Socialist Party has received up to $1 million a month from Moscow.

As the international community appealed for calm in Moldova, the new Prime Minister, Maia Sandu, defiantly summoned her cabinet to meet on Monday in parliament - despite a blockade by police still obeying the former government led by Pavel Filip.

The pro-European political bloc ACUM and the pro-Russian Socialist Party, PSRM, held talks on Tuesday about the possibility of establishing a new parliamentary majority in Moldova after almost three months of political deadlock.

The negotiations started after US, EU and Russian officials visited Moldova on Monday.

"EU standards cannot be implemented in Moldova if this country is not reunified with Romania" and "There are no two nations! There is one, the Romanian nation" are just two of the quotes and slogans used by Romanian politicians while campaigning in Moldova for this week's European Parliament elections.

All the main political parties in Moldova on Wednesday or Thursday submitted their lists of candidates to the Central Electoral Commission for the parliamentary elections due on February 24.

Under the new and controversial "mixed" electoral system, half the winning candidates for the 101 seats will come from party lists and half will be elected in constituencies.

A Moldovan diplomatic mission will arrive in Moscow on Thursday for the first inter-ministerial talks since April 2017, when Moldova froze ties with Russia after accusing Russia of trying to kill the ruling pro-Western Democratic Party's leader, Vlad Plahotniuc.

Moldova also claimed that its officials were harassed by the Russian authorities every time they visited the country.

Ahead of massive protests scheduled for Sunday, August 26, in the main square of Chisinau, Moldova's ruling Democratic Party, PD, has started an aggressive media campaign, claiming Russia is behind the protests.

The campaign has connected political leaders to prominent figures in civil society in Moldova to the Russian secret service, the FSB, which allegedly is behind the protests.

Six men accused of plotting the assassination of Moldova's most influential oligarch, Democratic Party leader Vlad Plahotniuc, were sentenced late Monday night to between three and 20 years in jail.  

Moldovan prosecutors originally had requested prison terms of between 11 to 24 years for the six alleged contract killers.