Black Sea Blizzard: Moldova's First Major Snowfall Wreaks Havoc
Weekly Roundup: December 1st, 2023
Winter’s First Snow
On the morning of Sunday November 26th Moldova got its first serious snowfall of the year. The snow was part of a much larger storm coming from the Black Sea and creating near hurricane conditions in seaside locations around Ukraine and Russia. In Moldova the storm dumped a considerable amount of snow across the country’s south and center including Chisinau. What seriously complicated the situation was the very high winds coming off of the larger Black Sea weather system. This led to large snow drifts in areas and significant power outages across the south of the country.
More than 1400 police officers assisted the fire department and other first responders in replying to calls of cars stuck on the road. The speed of the storm and high winds resulted in cars stranded all around the country and 139 towns and villages losing power. Electricity was not fully restored throughout the country until November 29th. On Monday, 361 schools canceled classes affecting around 150,000 students. Much to the consternation of kids hoping for a rare snow-day, some schools switched to online classes - a fact that highlighted the strange legacy of the COVID years.
In total, 4 people are reported to have died in the storm. A man in Causeni and another in Transnistria were found frozen to death on the side of the road once the storm cleared. Both had apparently been walking somewhere and were overtaken by the storm. An elderly couple were found dead in their car not far from Causeni, apparently of carbon monoxide poisoning from running their car’s heater. The couple’s car got stuck around noon on Sunday and they called 112 (emergency services) at 3 pm after failing to clear the car with help of friends or get a tractor to tow them. From this time until 5:50 they called 112 multiple times, first asking for a tow, then eventually asking for an ambulance and evacuation. After that their phone died. The man told 112 operators that they couldn’t leave themselves because his wife was sick, presumably with carbon monoxide poisoning. Relatives brought them warm clothes and even rode out to them on a horse to bring them to town but the couple chose to wait for the ambulance. It did not come. Passersby found the couple dead at 8 am Monday with the car under 2 m of snow and only accessible through the sunroof.
This story has cased a scandal as people try and figure out what went wrong. Prosecutors have opened a case to investigate what happened. Apparently the couple was on a side road and emergency teams were nearby but occupied with rescuing 35 people stuck in drifts on the main road. One apparent contributing factor in the tragedy was the performance of the 112 emergency operators. Prime Minister Recean demanded the resignation of the Director of the 112 joint emergency line pending the results of the prosecutor’s investigation. The Prime Minister noted that he was not aware until this case that 112 operates act as a call forwarding center and do not practice case management. Each call to 112 in this case got a different operator and there was no followup to assure that resources (e.g. the ambulance) arrived on scene. The single emergency number, 112, is only a few years old in Moldova and this storm has highlighted a major deficiency.
The storm was even harsher in Ukraine where at least 10 people died including 5 in the Odessa region alone. Police pulled 849 cars from the snow including 24 buses and 17 ambulances in the Odessa region.
Moldova has had multiple years of mild winters and a storm of this size this early in the year has become unusual. By Wednesday, warming weather and ongoing snow clearing efforts and returned the capital back to normal.
Political News
The biggest political story of the week is the potential merger of Mayor Ceban’s MAN Party and the Social Democratic European Party PSDE. We mentioned this story last week when the Romanian press reported meeting between Ceban and leaders of the ruling Romanian PSD Party. Renato Usati, often called the “most well informed man in Moldova,” accelerated the story by asserting that MAN will absorb PSDE in a deal brokered and supervised by Bucharest. Ceban would lead this new united political force. To date neither party has confirmed or denied the rumors.
Politically, such a merger would combine the personal charisma and name-ID of Mayor Ceban with the national infrastructure of the PSDE Party. Remember, Ceban’s MAN Party did not run in a single local election race outside of Chisinau and has no national infrastructure. Meanwhile, PSDE has no charismatic leader.
Both MAN and PSDE are nominally pro-EU, left of center, parties so on paper a merger has political and ideological logic. Beyond that neither claim holds up to much scrutiny. Ceban and other senior figures of the MAN Party come from the Socialist Party and until recently espoused very anti-EU, pro-Russian views. The PSDE meanwhile is just a re-branding of the Democratic Party of Moldova PDM - the party of fugitive oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc. PSDE has close relations with the Romanian PSD Party which go back many years. In Romania, PSD has been known to be involved in multiple high level corruption scandals which have engulfed current and former party leaders. They have an adversarial relationship with Romanian President Iohanis who comes from the rival PNL Party. Before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the PSD was known for calling for closer relations with Russia.
In an interview with Newsmaker, Moldovan Political Scientist Mihaela Siritsanu explained that PSD is not so much pro-Russian as it is corrupt. She said:
“In corrupt parties, people pursue their own interests. And in order to satisfy them, they may also need connections with Russia,”
While nothing is confirmed, it appears that Ceban and MAN are working to build a coalition that will make them competitive in the 2025 parliamentary elections. Additional parties to watch in this space are former Prime Minister Ion Chicu’s PDCM and former Bashkhan Irina Vlah’s new "Platform Moldova." A nexus of nominally pro-European parties run by people who very recently were pro-Kremlin seems to be forming with support from Plahotniuc’s old party and factions in Romania. This will be a space to watch in the coming weeks and months.
Other Political News
Here’s a rapid fire roundup of the other top stories of the past week:
Prime Minister Recean demands the resignation of the leadership of the Public Procurement Agency. The Prime Minister made this demand in a cabinet meeting explaining that attempts to roll out the online public procurement system are "neither efficient nor complete." He noted that the system has functional gaps and lacks transparency.
Renato Usati held a strange press conference in his capacity as a member of the Balti city council. In it he stressed that he has never and will never fear anyone, and “If I have to fight the mafia again, believe me, I will not only do it, but even lead it,” He did not explain what he meant by that. The strange statement will likely revive longstanding rumors about his past connections to organized crime.
The “General Congress of Deputies of all Levels in Gagauzia” has been indefinitely postponed. The congress was scheduled to meet on December 9th and discuss the relationship of the autonomy to Chisinau. No reason was given but representatives say they hope to return to the issue next year.
The government has decided to create a new agency for combating violence against women / family violence. The agency will be created in 2024, have a staff of 22 and play a coordinating role within government on issues of domestic violence.
Parliament votes to create an Anti-Corruption Court. The vote was passed in the first reading by 55 PAS deputies with all oppositions MPs abstaining. This new court will only examine cases of high level corruption. Appeals against decisions of the new court can be made to the Supreme Court of Justice. The court will have 15 judges in total who will be hired and vetted by the Supreme Council of Magistracy along with international experts appointed by Moldova’s “international partners.” After this selection process judges will be appointed by the President for a 6 year term on the court. Explaining the purpose of the court, PAS MP Vasile Gradinaru stated:
“The first Vetting commission, which evaluates candidates for the position of the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM), finished considering cases back in February 2023. Tomorrow is December 1, which means 10 months of procrastination and stagnation lost by Moldova. The Republic of Moldova does not have time to wait, citizens want sentences for thieves and corrupt officials, and we agree with them. This is what the bill is designed for,”
Ruslan Stefanchuk, Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament), addressed the Moldovan Parliament. In his speech he expressed confidence that Ukraine and Moldova would “go home” to Europe together. He said: “For more than 20 months, Ukraine has been living under the conditions of a large-scale, aggressive war by Russia, but defending its right to exist. All this time we felt the support of Moldova, a small country with a big heart.” The Socialist and Communist deputies all walked out of parliament in protest before the speech of the Ukrainian political leader.
The Supreme Council of Prosecutors has decided to extend the application period for candidates interested in the job of Prosecutor General to December 29th. This decision was taken after only 2 candidates applied for the position by the end of November deadline. One of the 2 candidates is a career prosecutor, the other is a man that was previously sentenced to 9 years in prison for fraud and money laundering. His case is still going through appeals and was due to be before a judge last month. After spending nearly 4 years trying to remove the previous Prosecutor General, it appears that it is not easy to find a suitable candidate.
Economics and Infrastructure
Here’s a rapid fire roundup of the top economics and infrastructure stories of the week:
Farmers continue protesting. This week police and farmers clashed on the roads leading into Chisinau as police tried to prevent the blocking of roads with tractors. Multiple criminal cases were opened after the incident. Farmers eventually proceeded to the city center where they have set up a tractor protest. They continue to demand a moratorium on bankruptcy and a winter-long grace period on the repayment of loans. The Minister of Agriculture stated this week that no such sweeping intervention in the banking sector is possible and that the authorities are looking for tailored solutions.
This week the Leu turned 30. The national currency was introduced to replace the “coupons” which served as a temporary currency in 1992 and 1993 following the country’s independence.
No Stamps for the Ministry of Economy. Minister Alaiba stated this week that he had collected all the stamps in his ministry and locked them in a safe. He promised to return them to persons or departments who can explain how the stamp makes their work easier or faster. Stamping documents has not been mandatory for 7 years but the Soviet era practice remains stubbornly in place both in the public and private sector. The Minister explained his action stating:
"It's not about seals, it's about symbolism. A ministry that fights bureaucracy should not submit to it,”
Crime and Corruption
In a particularly strange story this week, ZdG reported that the new Vice President of the National Olympic Committee is not who he says he is… literally. Dmitri Torner, president of the Biathlon Federation of Moldova, was elected to the position of Vice President for “economy and external relations” (aka sponsorships) at the National Olympic Committee this week. ZdG reports that Dmitri Torner’s real name is Dmitri Necrasov. Mr. Necrasov was arrested and sentenced to 11 years in prison for fraud, embezzlement and drug dealing back in 2003. After that he escaped prison in 2004 and he fled to Ukraine. In Ukraine he apparently accumulated 9 Ukrainian passports under different names before being discovered by the SBU and outed by the local press. He was discovered because he was running for Parliament in the party list of the pro-Russian “Opposition Platform – For Life” party in 2019. The Ukrainian authorities banned him from the election one day before the vote.
What happened next is not clear. Somehow this man, who was exposed as running for office in Ukraine while being an escaped convict and very much not a Ukrainian, did not go to prison and found his way back to Moldova under an assumed name. Now he has a senior role in the National Olympic Committee and is apparently prepared to partially support the athletes through his own personal finances… though he would not answer questions about his finances when asked by reporters. Dmitri Torner / Necrasov has denied these reports simply saying that no authorities in Moldova or Ukraine have claims against him.