Igor Dodon

Suspense

ormer President of Moldova Igor Dodon (C) is escorted by law officers during the court hearing process in Chisinau, Moldova, 26 May 2022. Former President of Moldova Igor Dodon is accused of passive corruption, illegal party financing, betrayal of the homeland and illicit enrichment. EPA-EFE/DUMITRU DORU

The director of the Moldovan Intelligence and Security Service, SIS, Alexandru Esaulenco, resigned on Monday amid the detaining scandal regarding the former pro-Russian president, Igor Dodon, for corruption and high treason to Russia.

Former Moldovan president Igor Dodon on Wednesday said his detention on Tuesday on treason charges was "a political case", claiming that the governing pro-European Action and Solidarity Party, PAS, was pusuing a vendetta.

Pro-Russian former Moldovan President Igor Dodon was detained by prosecutors on Tuesday on four charges including corruption and treason.

Investigators searched Dodon's Chisinau home, his mother's house and a villa being built by the Dodon family by the Dniester River, seizing tens of thousands of euros in cash and half a million lei [25,000 euros], anti-graft prosecutors said.

Several thousand people in Moldova's capital Chisinau took part in an "Immortal Regiment" march on Monday, organised by the pro-Russian Socialist Party, PSRM, many of them breaking a new law that bans the display of symbols glorifying the former Soviet communist regime.

Authorities in Moldova vowed on Monday to do everything necessary to track down and punish those who scrawled symbols of support for Russia's war in neighbouring Ukraine on a cemetery for World War Two Romanian soldiers.

Pro-Russian politicians in Moldova on Friday denounced a ban on symbols backing Russia's attack on Ukraine, such as the letters "V" and "Z", as well as the "St George" black-and-orange ribbon, adopted by parliament on Thursday evening.

Moldova is facing massive challenges after almost 70,000 Ukrainian citizens entered the country seeking shelter from Russia's invasion, according to Moldovan Border Police figures on Monday.

President Maia Sandu on Sunday visited the Otaci-Mohyliv-Podilsk border crossing in the Ocnita district to inspect how the authorities were coping with the growing flow of refugees.

Former pro-Russian president Igor Dodon quits as Socialist Party leader and flies to Moscow. Experts see his party's disintegration as unstoppable.

Moldova's pro-EU government amended the law on company ownership on Wednesday to end offshore secrecy and enforce maximum transparency about companies operating in or from Moldova.