The 40-year-old Russian citizen who wrote “Putin – murderer” on the Russian Embassy gate on the evening of 7 October 2022 has been fined 25,000 lei. In a post on social media, the man asked his followers to help him collect this money, so that he would “not be imprisoned” in Moldova “for non-payment”.

“I received the sentence. It’s as I assumed – a fine of 500 contraventional units (25,000 lei or €1,230). If I pay within 72 hours, the amount is halved. However, I don’t have this money. So I am announcing a fundraiser so that I am not locked up here for non-payment,” reads a post on the man’s Facebook page.

The man, originally from the Russian region of Samara, has been living in Moldova since 2022, after Putin’s army invaded Ukraine. He took part in several protests in front of the Russian Embassy in Chisinau against Russian military aggression in Ukraine.

On the evening of 7 October 2022, the man wrote on the gate of the Russian Embassy in Chisinau, in Russian, “Putin – murderer”.

“A 40-year-old man from Russia committed several hooligan acts near the Russian Embassy. He vandalised the embassy gate with graffiti, launched fireworks near the building and hung a piece of blue and white cloth on a metal crowbar. When summoned by the Carabinieri General Inspectorate employees, the individual resisted, was subsequently taken down from the embassy fence, handcuffed and detained. He was arrested for 72 hours and is under criminal investigation for hooliganism,” Nina Dubovca, press officer of the Chisinau Police Department, told ZdG.

At the time, representatives of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Moldova said that on the evening of October 7 “a hostile action” had taken place against the diplomatic mission.

“With the complicity of the authorities, an attack was made on the Russian diplomatic mission: the explosion of firecrackers damaged the building, an attempt was made to enter the embassy complex without permission, offensive inscriptions were made on the fence of the diplomatic mission. Fortunately, there were no casualties among employees and family members,” according to the statement.

The Russian embassy invoked serious violations of the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 18 April 1961, the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between the Russian Federation and Moldova, as well as the Joint Declaration of the Foreign Ministers of the Russian Federation and Moldova on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of its signing in Moscow, 17 November 2021.

Subsequently, the Russian national who vandalised the Russian Embassy gate with graffiti announced that he had been released on his own responsibility and wrote a message explaining his actions.

“If you think what kind of crazy person is the one who wrote the truth on the gates of the Russian Embassy “PUTIN KILLER”, flew a blue-white flag and shot at the consulate, then don’t complicate it, it was me. If you were worried about me (which is unlikely), then I was released on my own recognizance and a criminal case was opened under the vandalism article,” writes Alexandr Kudashev.

On 10 October, the Russian Investigative Committee announced that it would submit “a legal assessment” of the vandalism of the Russian Embassy in Chisinau on the evening of 7 October.

“The Russian Investigative Committee will give a proper legal assessment of the fact of the hostile action against the Russian Embassy in Chisinau. (…) Investigators of the Russian Investigative Committee will request the necessary information from the Russian Foreign Ministry and will establish all the circumstances of the incident,” the Russian Foreign Ministry announced.