Former Chief of the General Staff of Moldova Igor Gorgan, who left his post in 2021, was an informant for Russian military intelligence for years and continues to do so.
This was reported by The Insider following the results of an investigation together with Moldovan journalists, writes Evropeiskaya Pravda.
The journalists claim that they gained access to Gorgan’s Telegram correspondence with one of his curators – Colonel Alexei Makarov. According to their findings, he still remains an important informant for the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation thanks to old connections in the Ministry of Defense.
It is not known for certain when Gorgan began working as an informant. The Insider's military intelligence source suggests it could even be as far back as 2004, when Gorgan served in the NATO mission.
Prior to Colonel Makarov, he appears to have been in touch with the Russian military attache in Chisinau, Vadim Ukhnalev, and then – with his successor Igor Dovbnya. Journalists managed to obtain a recording of a conversation where they arrange a meeting regarding the memorial to the “Afghans” in Chisinau. In 2017, Dovbnya was expelled from Moldova for espionage.
Makarov probably took over the curatorship in 2019. Gorgan's contacts with Makarov intensified in April 2022. Gorgan regularly provided his observations on the domestic political situation in Moldova, on visits by representatives of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry on issues related to the acquisition of weapons. The meetings took place in cafes and while fishing.
The Russian side was interested in what weapons Ukraine was purchasing, including from Moldova. Gorgan leaked information that Ukraine is trying to buy six MiG-29s under the guise of a company in the UAE. In another correspondence, he described how representatives of Ukraine “have been walking around our Ministry of Defense for three weeks and asking for everything, especially shells for artillery.”
He also described the movement of trains with fuel through Moldova to the Ukrainian Reni and complained that Ukraine receives a lot of important cargo, including weapons, through Romania.
In another message, Gorgan says that he learned about the attempts of the Ukrainian side, through the Ministry of Defense of Moldova, to get in touch with the MEZON radio electronics plant in Chisinau, which once made electronics for Soviet weapons and has documentation for the radio-electronic component of the Tochki U complex, which was produced in Chisinau.
This and other reports hint that Gorgan still has informants in the Ministry of Defense.
Moldovan investigative journalists have repeatedly spotted Gorgan near the Russian embassy and once recorded his meeting with Makarov.
Correspondence shows that Gorgan worked for Moscow for ideological reasons; in his messages, he often uses Russian propaganda clichés about “fascist scoundrels from whom the country must be cleansed.” etc. He repeatedly wrote to Makarov that supposedly everything in Moldova is ready for the arrival of Russian troops, he “keeps the entire situation in the army under control,” and the pro-Western leadership of Moldova can be “dealt with quickly.”
Before the large-scale expulsion of Russian diplomats from Moldova in July 2023, Gorgan stopped communicating with his curator. He got a job at the UN Refugee Office in Chisinau, where, in particular, they keep records of internally displaced persons from Ukraine and provide them with assistance.
Gorgan’s life path is typical of most Soviet military personnel. He was born in Moldova in Dubossary, after military service he studied to become a military man in Novosibirsk, then, back in the Soviet years, he served in the DShV in the Odessa region, then held various military positions in Moldova and participated in international missions.
Gorgan headed the General Staff twice – for a short time in 2013, and then from 2019 to September 2021, during the presidency of the pro-Russian Igor Dodon.
Recall that Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean said that at present Chisinau considers a military threat to itself unlikely. on the Russian side, while the Kremlin is mired in a war against Ukraine, but expects Russian attempts to manipulate public opinion before the presidential and parliamentary elections.
Prepared by: Nina Petrovich