patrick.net

Moldova strips general of rank and medals over Russian spying allegations


JUNE 5, 2024 1:04 PM CET
BY GABRIEL GAVIN
A former senior Moldovan military officer stands accused of betraying his country by passing on sensitive information about the Eastern European nation's defenses to Russian intelligence services.
Igor Gorgan, who served as Moldova's chief of the general staff until he was dismissed by pro-EU President Maia Sandu in 2021, is alleged to have offered confidential insights into the weaponry used by the Moldovan armed forces as well as on Ukrainian supply lines running through the country.
In an exposé published Wednesday, independent Russian investigative outlet The Insider published a spate of Telegram messages purported to be between Gorgan and his handlers in Moscow’s military intelligence service, the GRU, dating back to at least April 2022.
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Gorgan studied at a military school in Russia prior to the fall of the Soviet Union, but had also received training in the United States and participated in NATO missions in Bosnia, Georgia and Iraq. Since leaving the military, Gorgan has been working for the UNHCR, the U.N.’s refugee agency.
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Responding to the allegations ... Sandu’s chief of staff, Adrian Balutel, said “such crimes against the state must be punished in the harshest manner for treason” and announced that Gorgan’s military awards and honorary ranks “will be revoked.”

Like Ukraine, Russia has sought to keep Moldova in its self-declared sphere of influence, as it seeks to establish greater ties with the rest of Europe. The Kremlin has responded by launching the sort of hybrid warfare it conducted against Kyiv from 2014 until the start of its full-scale invasion in 2022. Russia occupies the Transnistria region of Moldova, which runs along the border with Ukraine, and has hundreds of troops stationed there despite calls from the government for them to leave.

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