Moldova

Living standards in Moldova face plummeting further on the back of skyrocketing inflation.

The Gagauz are a small Christian Turkic minority that lives primarily in southern Moldova and Ukraine's Odessa region. According to the 1989 Soviet census, over 153,000 Gagauz lived in Moldova, concentrated mainly in the cities of Comrat and Ceadîr-Lunga, and with a considerable minority in the nearby regions of Vulcănești, Taraclia, and Basarabeasca.

Moldova's pro-Western President Maia Sandu said on Wednesday that she does not understand why Russia imposed a new embargo on Moldovan fruits on August 15, as her country's goods meet EU quality standards that are higher than Russian standards.

Moldova will not be able to honour its payment obligations for August for gas from Gazprom, the director of Moldovagaz, Vadim Ceban, told BIRN on Thursday.

"We hope we can get an extension of the payment term. The deadline is August 20, but I think we can also pay on August 22," Ceban told BIRN.

After a year in power, Moldova's pro-European government can claim some major successes, but remains a disappointment to some.

Instability Ahead

A Moldovan deputy for the pro-Russian Socialist Party, Alla Dolinta, resigned on Wednesday from parliament and from the Socialist Party of Moldova, PSRM, because of the party's stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"For over four-and-a-half months, in a neighbouring state, Ukraine, which is essentially my home because my parents were born there, is at war," she said.

Russia has indicated it hopes to clear a path through southern Ukraine to Transnistria, injecting new urgency to a long-term plan to overhaul and beef up Moldova's armed forces.

The government of Moldova, led by Prime Minister Natalia Gravrilita, on Friday carried out its first reshuffle, almost a year after taking office, appointing former deputy head of the pro-Western Action and Solidarity Party, PAS, Vladimir Bolea, as Agriculture Minister.

Responding to a dramatic drop in university intake, Moldova's government is proposing to merge higher education institutions, but it faces resistance.