The Moldovan military officer regularly reported to Russian intelligence officials about the internal political situation in the republic, and also discussed visits by representatives of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
There is a big scandal in Moldova. The former head of the country’s General Staff, Igor Gorgan, has been an informant for the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) for years, according to an investigation by The Insider, which, along with the Moldovan publication Little Country, gained access to Gorgan’s telegram correspondence with his GRU curator, Colonel Alexey Makarov.
Been recruited for a long time
In 1991, Igor Gorgan graduated from the Combined Arms Higher Military School in Novosibirsk, after which he served in the airborne division in the Odessa region, and then as the commander of the 2nd motorized infantry brigade in Chisinau. In 2001, he attended the US Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth. Since 2003, he has taken part in international NATO missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and Iraq.
In 2013, General Gorgan headed the General Staff of Moldova, but left the department after a conflict with the Minister of Defense. In 2019, during the reign of Igor Dodon, the military again received the post of the head of the General Staff. In 2021, he was fired by the new President of Moldova, Maia Sandu. In 2023, Gorgan got a job at the UN refugee office in Chisinau.
Insider’s military intelligence sources suggest that Gorgan was recruited in 2004 while serving in international NATO missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and Iraq. Then he was in an intelligence connection with the Russian military attaché in Chisinau, Vadim Ukhnalev. Then the next military attache, Igor Dovbnya, became his supervisor (in 2017 he was expelled from Moldova for espionage activities).
Since 2019, Gorgan has been in contact with Colonel Alexei Makarov, who also served as the military attache of the Russian embassy in Chisinau. Moldovan journalists saw Gorgan several times at the Russian embassy in Chisinau, and also once at a confidential meeting with Makarov.
Activation after the invasion of Ukraine
In April 2022, after the start of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, correspondence between Gorgan and Makarov intensified. In particular, he informed the administrator that Ukroboronexport is trying to buy six MiG-29 aircraft from Moldova and “the Ukrainians have been walking around our Ministry of Defense for three weeks and asking for everything, especially that’s the artillery.”
Requested to send troops
Also, writes The Insider, Gorgan “continually bombarded Makarov with messages that everything in Moldova was ready for the entry of Russian troops.” “We need to immediately cleanse the country of all fascist scoundrels!!! Many are ready. Pass it on… The time has come. I keep the whole situation in the army under control… Here, fortunately, there are no Azov or other national formations, but we will deal with the politicians quickly,” journalists quoted one of Gorgan’s messages to his supervisor .
As the publication notes, despite the fact that Gorgan was fired from the Ministry of Defense of Moldova in 2021, he still has many henchmen in the department who provide him with secret information.
In July 2023, on the eve of the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats from Moldova, Gorgan stopped communicating with his GRU supervisor and took a job at the UN Refugee Office in Chisinau (UNHCR-Moldova).
Consequences
After the investigation was released, the head of the Moldovan presidential administration, Adrian Balutel, said that Igor Gorgan’s state awards and military ranks would be revoked. “Such crimes against the state should be punished in the most severe way for treason,” he said. “Such cases show that continuous monitoring and thorough verification of employees by law enforcement agencies and state security agencies is mandatory. Such insider criminals contribute to the emergence of a hybrid threat to the state. This is why we need more effective tools to combat betrayal.”
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.