On 18 September 2022, protests in Moldova began in the capital city of Chișinău, demanding the resignation of the country's pro-Western government, amid an energy crisis causing rising natural gas prices and inflation, caused in part by the war in Ukraine.
The pro-Russian Șor Party have been instrumental in the organisation of the protests. It is alleged by the Moldovan government that the party has been offering cash payments to people to attend the protests and has also been providing free transportation to the capital for protest attendees, with funds provided by Ilan Shor, the oligarch and leader of the Șor Party who had fled Moldova amid corruption charges and who has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. The Șor party would be outlawed by the Moldovan Constitutional Court on 19 June 2023 with its former members being further barred from participating in the upcoming 2023 Moldovan local elections, regardless of their new political affiliation. Following the dismantling of the Șor party, large scale coordinated protests ceased.
On 18 September, about 20,000 people attended a protest in Chișinău, demanding that the country's pro-Western government resign.
October
On 13 October, the authorities of the Republic of Moldova decided to ban rallies that block traffic lanes, transport arteries or access roads to public institutions during the week, these being allowed only on weekends for a maximum duration of four hours.
On 14 October, several people came out to protest in the center of the capital against the measure taken by the authorities, and at least 4 people were detained.
On 6 November, over 50,000 supporters of the Șor party took part in a protest in the national capital of Chișinău, once again demanding the resignation of the pro-western government and snap parliamentary elections.[citation needed]
On 8 November, the Moldovan government announced that it had requested the constitutional court to initiate proceedings for the outlawing of Ilan Shor's "Șor" party in Moldova, due to it allegedly promoting the interests of a foreign state and harming national independence and sovereignty.
On 13 November, thousands of anti-government protesters returned to the streets of Chișinău.
On 11 December, a new anti-government protest took place in Chișinău (at the US embassy in Chișinău and at the headquarters of the ruling PAS party), this initiated by the We Build Europe at Home Party (PACE).
On 15 December, within the Orheileaks investigation, the links between the Șor protesters and the unionist activist Vlad Bilețchi were exposed. The latter denied any association with protesters.
On 19 December, six TV channels in Moldova linked to Ilan Shor (Prime TV, RTR Moldova, Accent TV, NTV Moldova, TV6 and Orhei TV) were temporarily suspended, on charges of making pro-Russian propaganda and spreading false information about the Russian-Ukrainian war. The channels continued streaming on other platforms.
2023
January
On 25 January, several journalists from suspended TV channels, led by Alexei Lungu, protested in Bucharest, demanding the intervention of the Romanian authorities to negotiate with the Moldovan ones to restart broadcasting the channels on TV. The next day, on 26 January, the journalists protested at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. On the same day, Russian deputies Leonid Kalashnikov and Svetlana Zhurova warned that Moldova's intentions to unite with Romania, and thus joining NATO, may lead to its destruction.
On 26 January, several hundred pensioners from among supporters of the Șor Party protested on Thursday at the presidential building, demanding the resignation of Sandu.
February
On 2 February Moldova passed a law introducing criminal penalties for separatism, including prison terms. The law continues with penalties for financing and inciting separatism, plotting against Moldova and collecting and stealing information that could harm the country's sovereignty, independence and integrity.
On 2 February, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov declared that Moldova might have Ukraine's fate (meaning to be attacked by Russia) if the Moldovan president Maia Sandu, who has Romanian citizenship, wants Moldova to unite with Romania and join NATO.
On 16 February, a new cabinet led by Dorin Recean was sworn in. The new Prime-minister declared that Moldova's neutrality would not protect the country from any military aggression.
On 19 February, thousands of pro-Russian protesters took part in a protest in the national capital of Chișinău, once again demanding the resignation of the pro-western government. Despite the fact that Marina Tauber, the leader of the protesters, denied any link with the Russian authorities, some protesters requested a Russian military intervention in Moldova and its accession into Russia. Ukrainian politician Mykhailo Podolyak claimed that Russia is trying to organise acoup d'etat in Moldova. Several other people organised a counter-protest, marching with Romanian and NATO flags. On the same day, Moldovan Prime-minister Dorin Recean demanded an end to the Russian military presence in Transnistria and a peaceful reunification of Moldova and Transnistria. Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian president Vladimir Putin, claimed that Moldova's rulers are provoking Anti-Russian hysteria. Russian deputy Sergey Mironov, leader of A Just Russia — For Truth, who has close relations with the Moldovan socialists, threatened with a Russian military attack if Moldova enters Transnistria; he also claimed that Transnistria's accession to Moldova is a dream of Moldo-Romanian nationalists.
On 21 February, Russian president Vladimir Putin revoked the decree that underpinned Moldova's sovereignty in resolving the Transnistria conflict. On the same day, Prime-minister Dorin Recean declared that Russia tried to take the Chișinău Airport under its control, in order to bring Russian and pro-Russian diversionists to stage a coup and overthrow the Moldovan government.
On 27 February, Wizz Air announced that it will suspend all flights to and from Chișinău Airport, due to security concerns linked to rising tensions with Russia. Most of the routes will be relocated to the Iași Airport in Romania.
On 6 March, the Bloc of Communists and Socialists organized a protest in front of the Constitutional Court of Moldova against changing the name of the official language from Moldovan to Romanian. PAS leaders claimed that they are backed by Russia. There was also a counter-protest, in support of the Romanian language.
On 13 April, Shor was sentenced to 15 years in prison in absentia on graft charges.
On 27 April, a NATO flag was trampled by a group of people, right in front of the NATO Information Centre in Chișinău, by a group of people led by deputies Alexandr Nesterovschi (who recently left the Socialist Party and started collaborating with the Șor Party) and Irina Lozovan. They tore down the NATO flag and sprayed it with red paint, symbolizing blood.
On 27 April, the Moldovan Parliament voted to strip Ilan Shor of his membership of the Parliament. He was succeeded by Vladimir Vitiuc.
May
On 1 May, Șor Party's vice president, Marina Tauber, was arrested at the Chișinău Airport on charges of corruption while trying to flee the country to Israel.
On 19 June, the Șor Party was outlawed by the Constitutional Court of Moldova. Șor declared that the party will continue its activity and that it will contest in the next elections despite such an action being illegal and any votes for Șor being invalid. Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman of the Russian foreign ministry, declared that Maia Sandu wants to become the "Romanian Queen of Moldova".
Aftermath
On 26 June, Șor announced the creation of the Chance. Duties. Realization political bloc, to continue the Șor Party's activity. On the same day, the pro-Russian activist Mihail Ahremțev, who is also the leader of the Ours Party (a founding party of Șor's bloc), encouraged Moldovans on his Facebook page to join the Russian Army and fight in Ukraine.
26 July 2023, Moldova expelled 45 Russian diplomats and embassy staff because of "unfriendly actions".
3 October the Constitutional Court of Moldova ruled that Article 16 of the Electoral Code is unconstitutional and that former members of the Șor Party can stand for elections. On 4 October, the Exceptional Situations Committee upheld the ban on the Șor party and also decided that all former members of the party that are charged, indicted, or even under suspicion of committing criminal acts will be banned from participating in the 2023 Moldovan local elections. The bans on 21 candidates were amended on 4 October to run for 3 years.
6 October, Maia Sandu, in an interview with the Financial Times, claimed that earlier in the year the Wagner Group attempted to turn the protests into a violent insurrection which would allow them to stage a coup to topple her government. Additionally, she also claimed that Yevgeny Prigozhin personally contributed to the 20 million Euros the Moldovan intelligence service intercepted to pro-Russian groups.
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