...or how Renato Usatii became Moldova's Navalny 2.0
In big Moldovan politics, Renato Usatii is haunted by setbacks with enviable regularity.
Since Renato himself has not yet gained real political weight, he is always trying to join the brighter competitors of the race, because he is easily bypassed by former comrades in alliances like Dodon, or the current favourites of the race Sandu and Shor.
And our hero remains in the eternal role of a spoiler in the background, reselling his voters to one of the candidates in the second decisive round. It doesn’t matter to whom, money doesn’t smell.
But since the elections are still far away, and there is no real power even in his hometown of Balti, where voters traditionally voted for their mayor, Renato has to remind himself of himself at least with “anti-corruption investigations” a la the Russian FBK with the now deceased Navalny . In principle, a win-win game to a certain level: the current government is easy to criticize for any problems in the country, even if these are the legacy of previous schemes, to which Renato himself had a direct hand.
So, our hero now in his web streams (they are no longer allowed on TV) dramatically tears his shirt apart on his chest for the sake of “people”'s national interests via:
- Investigations into discriminatory tariffs for gas and electricity
- Publication of a case of burying fuel oil waste on the territory of a thermal power plant
- Critics of the Skuleni border crossing and its toilets with showers
- Search for the unfortunate girl in Orhei, kidnapped and killed by a rapist
- Critics of the Dutch pre-vetting specialist von Hebel
- Actions along the road: honk if you are against the PAS authorities
- Horror stories about unification with Romania in 24 hours
- Warming up around the arrests of customs officers at Chisinau airport
And also Renato streaming nicely on his camera how he:
- Plants tree seedlings
- Breeds carp fry in the lake
- Builds pavilions for bus stops from stainless steel
- Dreams of digging a canal for the FEZ in Giurgiulesti
- Promises to build a new ̶k̶a̶r̶a̶o̶k̶e̶-̶c̶l̶u̶b̶ stadium (old story with the US Embassy)
These and other "highlighting" scandals have only one goal for Renato: to increase his citations in the press and prevent oblivion in the memory of voters. Well, Renato Usatii doesn’t want to turn into another “downed pilot” in Moldovan politics.
Due to the pathological inability to complete the matter, Renato is no longer trusted by his former partners in Moscow, from the thief in law “Bolgar” to the Kremlin political strategists promoting the “protection of the Russian population” in Moldova. In Moscow they are betting on new figures Shor and Gutsul, in Chisinau they are casting former “friends” Dodon and Filat. And since money is needed here and now, the only source remains former accomplices in Russian Railways, about whom we have already written earlier.
Monthly payments of 60,000 euros through Cypriot offshore companies from Boris Usherovich were not enough for a massive transfer of money to Moldova on the eve of the autumn elections of 2024 in Moldova (as we already wrote here). And there was also a rumour about the recently stopped channel for the import of Shor’s cash from Moscow to Moldova through the arriving participants of the “Victory” congress at the Chisinau airport.
Therefore, the "sly dog" Renato (we must give him his due) pulled off a bright and simple scheme with an alleged inheritance of 2 million euros from a deceased friend who wanted to remain “incognito”.
Good people knowledgeable in the intricacies of financial schemes for laundering offshore money by Renato Usatii revealed to us the name of this mysterious generous philanthropist. Meet Valery Markelov, one of the “kings of governmental contracts” with Russian Railways, who died in the summer of 2023 under investigation for theft from Russian Railways and money laundering, including through the Moldovan Laundromat.
Good people knowledgeable in the intricacies of financial schemes for laundering offshore money by Renato revealed to us the name of this mysterious generous philanthropist. Meet Valery Markelov, one of the “kings of state orders” under Russian Railways, who died in the summer of 2023 already under investigation for theft from Russian Railways and money laundering, including through the Moldovan Laundromat.
And although Renato did not physically receive this money, one of the Cypriot offshore companies was simply assigned to him personally by Boris Usherovich, Markelov’s former business partner. For this, Renato Usatii even had to redo his tax return for 2023, but his headache is still how to bring black cash into Moldova for his election campaign.
The source, who wishes to remain anonymous, promised to keep us up to date on exactly how cash will be smuggled from Cyprus or Dubai for the needs of Renato Usatii. Stay tuned!
But let's return to the future of Renato Usatii. And predicting Renato’s next moves is as easy as the activities of paid escort ladies on the Chisinau expressway... whoever pays a girl money is the one who dances her...
And Renato will work out the Moscow narratives on his own initiatives, hoping to then present the results and again gain trust and monetize his activities in the form of seats in the future parliament of 2025. That is why he is advocating for a referendum on early elections. Because he understands that nothing will happen to him in the presidential race, but there is a chance to sneak into parliament on the sly. And then there is parliamentary immunity, division of ministerial portfolios and an administrative resource for the growth of one’s party locally.
But in his florid Byzantine game with a Balkan touch, Renato Usatii loses sight of the fact that he will be reminded of the illegal financing of his campaign right before the elections. And they will make him as tame as the former president Igor Dodon, over whom the sword of Damocles still hangs in the form of the “black bag” case.
But we will be watching Renato’s diligent attempts to weave between the raindrops in the future. And we wish him every success in entertaining the Moldovan public in the style a la Zhirinovsky, with nationalist shades of Orban in the center-right niche “Moldova for Moldovans”
“Strength is in Truth” is the slogan in life for Renato, who loves to compare himself with a lone wolf - a fighter for justice. But the truth for Renato is a dual concept when it comes to his personal path in life. Stolen money, friends in prison and the blood of victims on their hands. How will you be remembered, Renato, QUO VADIS?