Anti-government demonstrations have not stopped in Chisinau since September, and President Maia Sandu accuses that they are directly inspired by the Kremlin, while Moscow’s refusal to deliver gas has pushed inflation to 33%. Profile of the young oligarch born in Tel Aviv who, with his own personal party, pulls the strings of the opposition from abroad (due to a conviction for fraud).
Chisinau () – At a time of serious internal conflicts between the political factions of Moldova, threatened by the possibility of being involved in the Russian war against neighboring Ukraine, the fate of the most brazen pro-Russian leader, the volcanic Ilan, does not seem to be waning Shor, founder of the party that bears his name, “Shor”. Demonstrations against the government, which President Maia Sandu considers directly inspired by the Kremlin, have not ceased since September last year, especially in protest of the energy crisis caused by the rejection of gas from Moscow.
The price of electricity for Moldovan citizens has multiplied by more than six and inflation is hovering around 33%, and these factors fuel the possibility that opposition politicians are taking advantage of the crisis for their own benefit. Shor is considered the link to Russia, where he is well known as the husband of singer Jasmine. He does not show his face in his own country, but he is the main sponsor of the demonstrations. Sentenced to 15 years in prison for a billion-dollar scam he smuggled out of Moldova, he is forced to live in Israel, from where he maneuvers his many followers, many of whom, in turn, also are under investigation.
The Moldovan journalist and writer Paula Erisanu has reconstructed for Novaya Gazeta Evropa the biography of the Russophile populist, an excellent example of how the Kremlin uses its pawns in the internal political games of European countries. Shor loves to appear on television screens – which he makes his henchmen carry on their shoulders – as well as on mobile phone monitors, to announce that he will soon return to Moldova to liberate the people from “Western dictatorship”. “. Born in Tel-Aviv in 1987, he is the son of a Moldovan businessman, Miron, who initially worked at the Russian “Chekhov” theater in Chisinau and then emigrated to Israel in the 1970s, where, along with business, he also began interested in politics, representing the interests of Jews from the USSR.
The family returned to Moldova in the 1990s, and Miron Shor launched major fashion brands in his country, organized fashion shows and art shows, and even opened a Moldovan section of the Rotary Club, always taking little Ilan with him. After his father’s untimely death in 2005, 18-year-old Ilan Shor took over all his businesses and, instead of continuing with Miron’s characteristic discretion, began to flaunt his fortune, becoming the public figure most glamorous in Moldova.
He was speeding across the country in his red Ferrari and throwing sensational parties everywhere with torrents of dollars of very dubious origin and destination. In the capital’s “Flamingo” discotheque he met the future Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat in 2008, and allowed himself to be drawn into political adventures. His marriage to the Russian star Jasmine, which took place in the Chisinau parliament building, made him a true celebrity in his own country and in Russia, at just 24 years old.
As the Moldovan government moved ever closer to Europe, between 2009 and 2019, Shor and his friends built one of the most rampant corruption networks in the country’s history, starting with the concession for the purchase of the capital’s airport, to embezzle more than 12% of Moldova’s GDP. The money he took out of the country was offset by a state debt that Moldovan citizens will have to pay until 2041.
Having achieved dominant economic power, Shor decided to enter politics directly, first as the leader of the Ravno Pravie (“Justice and Law”) party, which later became a personal party with a decisive slogan: “Moldova can only exist within the borders of Russia”. He became mayor of the small town of Orej, which he turned into a “free zone” for business.
Finally, in 2017, after several other embezzlements, Shor was convicted. and two years later he illegally escaped when Sandu’s pro-Europeans came to power. Since then he has continued to work remotely to overthrow the current government and return Moldova to the arms of his friend Putin.
