Moldova

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met on Tuesday morning with the President of Moldova, Maia Sandu, with the Greek leader reiterating Greece's support to Moldova's European perspective, government sources said.

Eleven leaders of Balkan countries including Greece meeting in Athens expressed their "unwavering support for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, based on the values of democracy and rule of law" in the face of Russian aggression, on Monday night.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis hosted on Monday evening an informal dinner with the leaders of the Western Balkans, Moldova, Ukraine and the EU, during which issues related to the bloc's enlargement and the European future of the region was discussed on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the EU-Western Balkans Summit and the Declaration of Thessaloniki.

Moldova's Foreign Ministry has denied Russian claims that an exhibition of two train carriages, recalling three waves of deportations of the local population during Soviet times in the 1940s and 1950s, is evidence of  "Russophobia ".

Personal bellongings and photos of people who the Soviets deported from Moldova to Siberian gulags. Photo: Moldovan Government Facebook

The director of the Moldovan Intelligence and Security Service, SIS, Alexandru Musteata, said on Monday that his institution he leads and the Prosecutor's Office for Combating Organised Crime and Special Cases, PCCOCS, had dismantled an FSB spy network in the country.

Expanding investment in Moldova's under-developed road infrastructure is providing a lifeline for Ukrainian exports - but more is needed.

Thorny Evidence

Man makes a phone call with a smartphone (illustration). Photo: EPA-EFE/YAHYA ARHAB

In February 2021, an operation by French and Dutch police cracked the code to the Sky ECC app, allowing investigators to scoop up a wealth of evidence against a range of organized crime groups across the world. Among them were many criminal groups in the Balkans as well.

This was the second and biggest wave of deportations out of the three that the Soviet Union enacted in Moldova. Between 1941 and 1951 there were three waves of deportations, and historians estimate that the total number of deportees was between 80,000 and 120,000.

The institutions tasked with tackling corruption in Moldova are locked in an unsightly row that looks a lot like a struggle for power.

Cegeka, a European information and communication technology (ICT) service provider based in Belgium, has launched its expansion in Greece by looking for new office space and hiring its first executives in Athens, it announced on Thursday.

The company is looking for highly skilled IT professionals to join its team.