The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Wednesday, 26 October, against 21 individuals and entities involved in corruption that “have caused serious harm to Moldova and its citizens”. In addition to former PDM leader Vladimir Plahotniuc and fugitive MP Ilan Shor, both of whom are wanted internationally, it included the “Shor” political party, Shor’s wife and Igor Ceaika, a Russian businessman and close associate of Igor Dodon, former president of Moldova.

According to US officials, Russia has sought to undermine democracy around the world through both overt and covert influence operations. Thus, before the 2021 parliamentary elections in Moldova, Igor Cheaika, together with the Kremlin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov, developed “detailed plans to undermine Maia Sandu and return Moldova to Russia’s sphere of influence”. Ceaika is the son of Yurii Ceaika, a member of Russia’s Security Council. The former used his father’s connections and influence to accumulate and “secure” his business.

According to the US authorities, Ceaika brokered the alliance between Ilan Shor’s supporters and the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM), whose leader at the time was Igor Dodon, the former president of Moldova.

“In exchange for promising Russian support in the elections, Ceaika obtained support for legislation favored by the Kremlin, including a law to strip Moldova’s president of control over the country’s intelligence agency (ed. SIS). The Moscow government used Ceaika’s companies as a ‘front’ to direct money to collaborating political parties in Moldova. Some of these illicit campaign funds were earmarked for bribery and election fraud,” a US Treasury Department statement said.

Also on the sanctions list are Yurii Gudilin, Olga Grak and Leonid Gonin, Russian citizens who, according to the US Treasury Department, served as political advisers to former Moldovan President Igor Dodon during the 2020 presidential elections in Moldova.

“During the election campaign, the Russian consultants also met with a large number of members of the PSRM, which at the time was led by Dodon. During these meetings, Gudilin and Grak pressured PSRM members to accept their assistance and guidance, promising them that they would have a favorable influence on the Russian presidential administration regarding requests for assistance from the government in Chisinau. In 2020, Gudilin also facilitated the establishment of a payment channel via the cryptocurrency Tether, presumably to fund election influence operations. In 2021, political advisers with ties to Russia’s Federal Security Service proposed using the Russian Interior Ministry to locate Moldovan citizens living in Russia and persuade them to vote for Dodon. In addition, the Russian media was to promote useful messages for Dodon’s campaign to Moldovan citizens living in Russia,” the statement added.

The US authorities also note that although its efforts to influence Moldova’s 2020 and 2021 elections have failed, the Kremlin continues to organise “efforts to bring a pro-Russian government back to power”.

“Recognizing the loss of popular support for the old pro-Russian political elite in Moldova, Gudilin’s team offered support to an opposition political group, the National Alternative Movement (MAN) – (ed. whose leader is Ion Ceban). These influence-peddling efforts are closely coordinated with Moscow’s use of natural gas as a political weapon against the government in Chisinau. Among its efforts to undermine the government, Gudilin’s team planned to hire a permanent team to post comments on social media and online broadcasts. Gudilin collaborated with a manager of the US-sanctioned Internet Research Agency to set up this “troll factory”.

Also on the list is Shor’s wife, Sara Lvovna Shor, who was decorated by Putin as an honorary artist of Russia.

The list of US sanctions can be found here.

What links Ceaika and Dodon
Relations between Ceaika and Dodon go back a long way. In February 2019, the Romanian Center for Investigative Journalism reported that, according to confidential documents, Ceaika was, as early as 2017, one of the sponsors of the “From the Soul” Foundation, managed by Galina Dodon. Thus, on August 16, 2017, the amount of 70 thousand euros entered the bank account for euros opened at Victoriabank in Chisinau of the Foundation “Din suflet”, and the money was transferred from an account opened at Absolutbank in Moscow in the name of Igor Chaika. Igor Chaika is also a business partner of the former president’s brother Alexandru Dodon.

In February 2019, at the end of the parliamentary election campaign, pilots Lionel Buruiană, 37, and Mihai Crihana, 54, who had been held captive by the Taliban in Afghanistan since November 2015, were released. At the time, the press reported that the release of the two had been negotiated by a Russian organisation, “Delovaya Rossia”, and one of its co-chairmen, Igor Yurevich Cheaika.

ZdG wrote in February 2019 that during Dodon’s presidency, Igor Cheaika had been to Chisinau and Comrat several times, setting up several deals with Gagauzia, but also with the Transnistrian region, forecasting important Russian investments in the left bank of the Dniester.

Another partnership. President Dodon announces that Igor Cheaika will pay for the renovation of the “A. Pushkin” museum house in Chisinau
Igor Cheaika has given up Moldovan television. First in Moldova and Accent TV declare new beneficial owners
On Wednesday, October 26, US Ambassador to Moldova Kent D. Logsdon announced that the US Treasury Department has imposed sanctions against former PDM leader Vladimir Plahotniuc and fugitive MP Ilan Shor, who was sentenced in 2017 to seven years and six months in prison for fraud and money laundering and is wanted internationally, as well as against “several entities and persons associated with them for actions related to corruption.” Thus, as a result of this decision, all property and assets owned by the designated persons are blocked and must be reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).