Irina Vlah

Irina Vlah is a politician from the Republic of Moldova, a former governor of the Territorial Administrative Unit (UTA) Gagauzia, having held two consecutive mandates from 2015 to 2023, and a former deputy.

In the October 20, 2024 presidential election of the Republic of Moldova, Vlah ran for president and received 5.38% of the votes.. While she positions herself as pro-European, she has also conveyed anti-European and pro-Russian messages.

After the second round of the presidential elections on November 5, 2024, Irina Vlah announced the creation of a new political party with which she wants to participate in the 2025 parliamentary elections, called the "Republican Party of the Heart of Moldova" (PRIM).

Vlah started her political career in 2005, becoming a deputy in the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova on the list of the Communist Party. She had previously held a position in the Executive Committee of the Gagauz region. She was elected five times in the Legislature, on the lists of the Communist Party, becoming a member of this formation as well, being a deputy until 2015.

In 2014, Irina Vlah was one of the initiators of organizing a consultative referendum on the territory of UTA Gagauzia on joining the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Customs Union, to which more than 98 percent of the residents of the autonomy voted in favor. Then the Chisinau authorities declared the referendum illegal, and the General Prosecutor's Office filed a criminal case for arbitrariness.

At the beginning of 2015, Vlah left the Communist Party and subsequently ran for mayor of the Gagauz autonomy, with support from the Socialist Party, led by Igor Dodon. Her election campaign featured the slogan, "To be with Russia is in our power." 

She won in the first round and was re-elected in 2019, serving two terms until 2023.

Notably, in January 2017, Vlah met with Vladimir Putin, the president of the Russian Federation, as part of a delegation led by former Moldovan president Igor Dodon.

In 2023, her successor as head of the Gagauz autonomy, Evghenia Guțul, an unknown figure in politics, was backed by oligarch Ilan Șor, who is currently evading justice abroad after being sentenced to 15 years in prison for his involvement in the major bank fraud case known as the "theft of the billion." Some political analysts believe that Irina Vlah played a role in Guțul's victory by not endorsing other candidates.

After completing her second mandate, Irina Vlah announced the creation of the "Platforma Moldova" Public Association and later declared her candidacy for the presidency of the Republic of Moldova in the October 20, 2024 elections. Although she claims to have pro-European views, her speeches have included several Russian propaganda narratives and misleading statements, including the assertion that the Republic of Moldova is preparing for war. At the same time, she urged voters to reject the referendum on European integration, which was held concurrently with the presidential elections.

According to an investigation by Ziarul de Gardă, Vlah also made several trips to Moscow in 2024.

Irina Vlah has a close relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church. In March 2024, she received an award from the Russian Orthodox Church, signed in 2018 by Patriarch Kirill, who openly supports the war waged by the Russian Federation against Ukraine. Additionally, in 2018, Vlah was awarded the jubilee medal of the Russian Orthodox Church "On the 100th Anniversary of the Restoration of the Patriarchate in the Russian Orthodox Church," which was approved by the order of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.

Some political analysts estimate that Irina Vlah receives unofficial support from the oligarch Ilan Șor. The press has reported and published images showing that she met secretly with Ilan Șor's supporters to coordinate campaign activities.

Officially, Irina Vlah does not own any media outlets. However, several journalistic investigations have revealed that she effectively controls two radio stations, a television station, and a news website through relatives and close associates. These media resources reportedly received funding from the budget of the autonomous region while Vlah was in charge. An investigation by the Nokta portal in 2021 indicated that Vlah controlled Radio Albena, Radio Sud, the STV television station, and the Gagauzinfo.md website.

Radio Albena and STV are owned by the company NOI MEDIA DE SUD LLC, which was previously owned by Ludmila Gheorghiu, a relative of Irina Vlah. Radio Albena has significant coverage in the southern part of the Republic of Moldova, while STV no longer holds a broadcast license. Currently, the company is officially owned by Evghenii Penov, who was formerly the director of Radio Albena and STV, as well as the administrator of Iusivmedia LLC.

In July 2024, the Council for the Promotion of Investment Projects of National Importance withdrew the broadcasting license for Radio Albena from NOI MEDIA DE SUD LLC, citing suspicious financial transactions, including those involving Evghenia Guțul, the current Bashkan of Gagauzia, who is strongly supported by oligarch Ilan Șor. Both Guțul and Șor are on international sanctions lists for collaborating with the Russian Federation and supporting the war against Ukraine.

Iusivmedia owns Gagauzinfo.md and previously held the broadcasting license for Radio Sud, which it relinquished in 2022. The company is currently owned by Iulia Spătarenco (Cîlcic). The Nokta portal reported that Vlah was the godmother at Spătarenco's wedding, and Spătarenco served as the treasurer for Irina Vlah's election campaign in the 2019 Bashkan elections. Additionally, her mother, Elena Spătarenco, donated 10,000 lei to Irina Vlah's campaign. Iulia Spătarenco's husband, Vladimir Cîlcic, was the director of GRT, the public television station in the Gagauz region, from 2016 to 2018, when he was dismissed. He also served as the administrator of Radio Albena and STV television.

Some of these media outlets received public funding for hosting live broadcasts and from the business support fund, and some employees of the Executive Committee of Gagauzia were employed by these media. The Nokta investigation also revealed that these outlets were used to attack political opponents and critics of Irina Vlah.