Kommersant: Natalia Morari to Announce Her Presidential Candidacy

According to several sources in the Russian daily Kommersant, well-known journalist Natalia Morari intends to announce her candidacy for the Moldovan presidency in the near future. ‘Until 2020, she had a very close relationship with Maia Sandu and supported her when Sandu opposed Moldovan oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, who until 2019 single-handedly, but from the shadows, without holding any public office, controlled literally everything in the country. But then friendship was replaced by enmity. Among other reasons, Morari at some point became close to Moldovan businessman Veaceslav Platon and gave birth to a son by him,’ kommersant.ru said. ‘Platon now resides in London, fearing criminal prosecution in Moldova. In 2023, the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow sentenced him in absentia to 20 years in a strict regime colony for illegally withdrawing more than 126 billion rubles in foreign currency from Russia. President Sandu publicly called Veaceslav Platon a threat to the country’s security, but the Moldovan authorities failed to obtain his extradition from the UK. Natalia Morari, in turn, published on her YouTube channel an interview with Platon, in which he harshly criticized the Moldovan leadership. ‘Sandu’s debate with Morari, if it takes place, will be curious to watch. And not only because of their polar attitude to the same person,’ the newspaper said.