Moldovan president to withdraw state distinctions, military ranks of former head of National Army's General Staff

Chisinau, 5 June /MOLDPRES/ - President, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces Maia Sandu will withdraw the state distinctions and the military ranks of the former head of the National Army’s General Staff, general Igor Gorgan. The head of the office of Moldova’s president, Adrian Balutel, today made statements to this effect. This comes as reaction to information spread by an international publication, according to which Gorgan would have provided information to intelligence services from Russia.    

„Given the investigation which appeared in an international publication, we make the following specifications: such crimes against the state must be punished as severely as possible for high treason. In 2021, this person was dismissed from office by President Maia Sandu. The state distinctions awarded to him in 2006, Civic Merit, and Faithfulness to Motherland in 2015, as well as the military ranks will be withdrawn,’’ Balutel said.  

According to the head of the office of Moldova’s president, such cases prove that it is badly necessary to continuously monitor and thoroughly verify the people from the institutions of defence and ensuring the state’s security. ‘’Such offenders from inside contribute to the hybrid attacks against the state Republic of Moldova. Namely therefore, we need more efficient instruments in the fight against the actions of high treason,’’ the official noted.  

An investigation made public by The Insider, referring to a correspondence from a social network of the former head of the National Army’s General Staff, Igor Gorgan, with his trustee from Russia’s intelligence services, Aleksey Makarov, points to a close cooperation between them. According to the quoted source, Gorgan used to regularly report to Makarov about the political situation in Moldova and conveyed data on visits to Chisinau by representatives of the Defence Ministry from Ukraine, as well as procurements of weapons for the Ukrainian army. In 2021, Gorgan was dismissed from office and starting from July 2023, he has been working at the United Nations Organization.  ‘’By availing himself of the old influential people in Moldova’s Defence Ministry, he remains an important informer of the Russian intelligence services,’’ The Insider writes.