Igor Dodon, the president of the Republic of Moldova
Igor Dodon was born on February 18, 1975 in the village Sadova, Calarasi. He is married and has three children. He was Minister of Economy and Commerce (2005) and Minister of Economy and Trade in Government Vasile Tarlev (2006). The Government headed by Zinaida Greceanii (2008) was Deputy First Minister and Minister of Economy and Trade.
Following the 2009 parliamentary elections he became an deputy on the PCRM lists. In 2011 he left the faction with Zinaida Greceanii and Veronica Abramciuc. They joined the Socialist Party of the Republic of Moldova. On December 18, 2011, at the 10th Congress of SPRM Igor Dodon was elected president of the SPRM. In 2016, Dodon won the presidential election and became the first directly elected president of the country in the last 16 years.
Igor Dodon is clearly expressing his pro-Russian political orientation. He repeatedly said that Moldova should join the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan detrimental to the European Union. He has been active in denouncing the Association Agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union. On March 29, 2012, Igor Dodon invited the parties to initiate a referendum to change the national flag of the Republic of Moldova (the tricolor), through the Moldovan flag of Stefan cel Mare.
In November 2012 he published on his Facebook account a photo appears dressed in clothes with Russian flag on them. At the initiative of the President of the Republic of Moldova, a historical expertise commission was created that will work within the Civil Society Council with the head of state. It will examine topics related to the importance of events in the past of Moldova, but also to the actions that are required to strengthen Moldovan statehood and identity. In February 2019, President Igor Dodon attended the International Security Conference, organized in Munich, Germany, where he presented the concept “All-inclusive package for Moldova”.
The representatives of the Electoral Bloc ACUM accused him that in fact he had put on the table of some western partners “a plan of federalization of the Republic of Moldova”, which would be a Russian plan and which would follow “the transnistration of the Republic of Moldova”. Vlad Lupan, expert, former ambassador and permanent representative of the Republic of Moldova to the UN said that the presented federalization plan is a “modified version” of the Kozak Memorandum, which failed in 2003.
In June 2019 Igor Dodon posted to his Instagram account a picture with Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. The head of state asked: “An accidental meeting with Ramzan. He invites me to the hospital. Should I go or not go? ”. The Chechen leader is known as one of President Putin’s staunchest supporters.
