Geography of Moldova

Moldova has started the process of rebranding Victory Day amid protests on Thursday in front of the parliament building in the capital Chisinau.

Several dozen people protested in front of the parliament with Soviet-era and Russian flags after the pro-European governing party, Action and Solidarity, PAS, put a draft bill on parliament's agenda.

The National Anticorruption Centre, together with prosecutors and investigative officers, carried out 24 raids on Thursday, after which two employees of the General Directorate of Medical and Social Assistance of the Chisinau Municipal Council, including the head of the Health Directorate, Boris Gîlcă, were detained for 72 hours.

Ukraine's plan to expand the Novodnestrovsk hydropower complex have caused concern in Moldova, which gets much of its water from the Dniester River, which passes through Moldova on its way to the Black Sea.

Moldovan Environment Minister Iuliana Cantaragiu said on TV on Tuesday that protection of the Dniester River is a priority for Moldova in all its negotiations with neighbours.

A team of 42 doctors and nurses from Romania's Defence Ministry and Health Ministry will leave for Republic of Moldova to bolster the medical teams in the neighbouring country in the fight against COVID-19.

The leader of the Dignity and Truth Platform Party, PPDA, Andrei Nastase, intends to run again in the new mayoral race for the capital, Chisinau which should take place this summer. Parliament in Moldova has not yet set an exact date for the election.

An explosion caused by a grenade going off in a shop in Moldova's capital Chisinau on Tuesday killed two people and wounded three.

Local police investigating the case said that the explosion, which happened at around noon, was an "accident".

Romania wants to increase its investments in Moldova, Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said in Chisinau on Tuesday.

At the end of a meeting with her Moldovan counterpart Pavel Filip, she said that one of the related priorities of Romania is the operation of the Iasi-Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipeline.

The UN General Assembly is to discuss by the end of October Chisinau's request for Moscow's forces to leave Transnistria, a pro-Russian breakaway area of eastern Moldova, as the Russian troops continue manoeuvres in the separatist region.