42 Facts About Vladimir Plahotniuc

Vladimir Plahotniuc was the chairman of the Democratic Party of Moldova and previously was a member of the Parliament of Moldova for three terms, and served as First Vice President of the Parliament of Moldova.

Since fleeing Moldova in June 2019, Plahotniuc has resided in Turkey.

Vladimir Plahotniuc was born on 1 January 1966 in Pitusca, Calarasi District, Moldavian SSR, Soviet Union.

Vladimir Plahotniuc held the position of economist at Euro EstHundel Ltd Moldova, then he worked at "Voyage" Ltd Moldova.

Vladimir Plahotniuc became a member of the Parliament in December 2010, a position he held until October 2013, when he resigned.

On 30 December 2010 Vladimir Plahotniuc was appointed deputy chairman of the Democratic Party of Moldova at the party's National Political Council session.

Vladimir Plahotniuc was elected as a member of the Parliament's Economy, Budget and Finance Committee.

In June 2012, Vladimir Plahotniuc became First Deputy Chairman of the Democratic Party of Moldova.

Timofti said that "Vladimir Plahotniuc is not qualified for the Prime-Minister position".

Vladimir Plahotniuc further said that among the qualifications for that position are that "the integrity of the candidate must not give rise to doubt".

In December 2014, Vladimir Plahotniuc was re-elected as a member of Parliament, and in July 2015 he resigned again from this position "to focus his political activity on reforming the party".

Vladimir Plahotniuc attended an event of the Atlantic Council, where he met Victoria Nuland, assistant to the US Secretary of State.

On 24 December 2016, during the 8th Democratic Party Congress, Vladimir Plahotniuc was elected chairman of the Democratic Party of Moldova.

On 6 March 2017, Vladimir Plahotniuc announced that his party would propose a uninominal voting system.

In March 2017, at the XXVth congress of the Socialist International, taking place from 2 to 4 March in Cartagena, Colombia, Vladimir Plahotniuc was elected as deputy president, joining the leadership team of George Papandreou, president, and Luis Ayala, secretary general, who were both re-elected for the next four years.

In July 2017, at the Congress of Socialist International, Vladimir Plahotniuc demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from eastern Moldova.

In 2018, Vladimir Plahotniuc urged the government to launch a campaign to promote a housing program named "Prima casa", designed to facilitate the acquisition of housing for civil servants.

Vladimir Plahotniuc described this project as the biggest infrastructure project since the declaration of Independence, but some experts found the project to be unrealistic.

In opinion polls carried out in 2019 referring to the most respected politicians of the Republic of Moldova, Vladimir Plahotniuc was ranked 3rd and 5th among politicians in whom Moldovans have the most trust.

On 24 June 2019 Vladimir Plahotniuc resigned as chairman of the Democratic Party of Moldova.

Between 13 and 15 June 2011, Vladimir Plahotniuc attended the 9th Conference of the presidents of the Parliaments of the member states of the South-East European Cooperation Process, of which Moldova has been a member since 2006.

Vladimir Plahotniuc was part of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Friendship Group with the Swiss Confederation, the Friendship Group with the Hellenic Republic and the Friendship Group with the Hungarian Republic.

Vladimir Plahotniuc has declared many times that one of his main goals is to stop Russian interference in Moldova, which had spread to all spheres of the Moldovan economy such as media, the banking system, insurance, NGOs and political organisations.

On 26 June 2019, two days after Vladimir Plahotniuc resigned as chairperson of the PDM, he was arraigned, in his absence, in the Russian Federation for organizing a large criminal drug trafficking network in North Africa, through the European Union, to CIS countries, including the Russian Federation.

Vladimir Plahotniuc's influence prevented Russia from achieving its own goals in Moldova and, consequently, from expanding Russian influence.

Vladimir Plahotniuc ran companies in the following domains: oil, financial and banking, hotels, media and real estate.

Vladimir Plahotniuc acted as the chairman of Victoriabank, one of the leading banks in Moldova until January 2011.

On 8 March 2017 Vladimir Plahotniuc published on his Facebook page the Amsterdam Court's decision confirming that Topa's accusations about the Victoriabank "raider attack" are unfounded.

Vladimir Plahotniuc is sole owner of the company "Prime Management SRL", which was founded in September 2010 and has earned him revenues of 34 million lei as of 2015.

Vladimir Plahotniuc has founded two companies: General Media Group Corp and Radio Media Group Inc.

Vladimir Plahotniuc is founder of The Foundation of Vlad Vladimir Plahotniuc "EDELWEISS", which is involved in implementing various social projects in Moldova.

Vladimir Plahotniuc has been accused by a hired assassin of being behind the order to kill German Gorbuntsov.

The authorities of the Russian Federation submitted a request to INTERPOL for Vladimir Plahotniuc to be placed on an international search list.

In September 2016, Vladimir Plahotniuc's name was circulated as being the beneficiary of the "century theft" from the Moldovan banking sector.

In October 2019, Vlad Vladimir Plahotniuc was announced in an international and interstate search, the request to be searched on Interpol channels for the arrest and extradition of the accused, being sent to the General Secretariat of the Interpol ICPO.

In May 2023 the Chisinau Court of Appeal ruled that Vladimir Plahotniuc must stand trial in his absence for theft from the Moldovan banking system between 2012 and 2014 including creating and leading a criminal organisation, fraud and money laundering.

On 11 July 2020 Vladimir Plahotniuc has contested legally this decision at a New York court.

Moldovan politician Renato Usatii claimed that Vladimir Plahotniuc spends time in both Istanbul and Northern Cyprus.

Vladimir Plahotniuc is married to Oxana with whom he has two sons.

Vladimir Plahotniuc explained this fact by "wanting to protect his children against discrimination during their studies in Romania".

In December 2019, it was found out that Vlad Vladimir Plahotniuc has one more identity on the territory of the Republic of Moldova with the name of Vladislav Novak.

Vladimir Plahotniuc was stripped of the distinction on 18 February 2021 by the current president of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu.