Bucharest's decision to ban the mayor of Chisinau from entering Romania and the Schengen area was the "news of the day" in Chișinău. Ceban is one of the most influential politicians across the Prut River and was considered in certain circles as the most likely partner for a pro-European alliance in the future parliament. However, his political past is controversial—a political turncoat who worked with former pro-Russian presidents Vladimir Voronin and Igor Dodon, Ion Ceban at one point had a harsh anti-European rhetoric and was suspected of having ties to the Russian intelligence service FSB.
In recent years, Ion Ceban has cultivated relationships with Romanian politicians, especially from the Social Democratic Party (PSD), and has adopted a pro-European discourse. However, there are suspicions that this latest transformation is merely a ploy to attract votes and that, in fact, Ceban is (yet another) Russian Trojan horse in Chișinău. The fact that Bucharest invoked “national security considerations” for the ban only serves to reinforce these suspicions.
Political turncoating, anti-European rhetoric, and ties to Moscow
Aged 45, Ion Ceban began his career in communist Vladimir Voronin's governing party. Voronin is the one who brought Moldova's relations with Romania to the tensest level in history: he launched a series of harsh verbal attacks against Bucharest, accusing it of attempting a coup d'état using the pro-democracy protests of April 7, 2009, and his government expelled Romanian diplomats and imposed visas on Romanian citizens. Ceban held several positions in the Voronin regime, both in the presidency and in the government, the highest being that of deputy minister of education. After the Party of Communists lost power, Ceban, who had become a member of parliament on the party's list, joined the Party of Socialists, led by Igor Dodon and Zinaida Greceanîi, who had also worked for Voronin but abandoned him after he became part of the opposition. Igor Dodon won the presidential election, and Ion Ceban became his advisor. Later, Dodon helped Ceban become mayor of Chișinău in 2019, but this help did not prevent the new mayor from leaving his former boss to found his own party, the National Alternative Movement (MAN).
Ceban's geopolitical views have changed even more frequently than he’s changed political parties. From being a supporter of European integration during Voronin's time, who mimicked a process of rapprochement with the EU, Ceban became, when working with Dodon, one of the biggest opponents of this path, being one of the politicians who protested in Brussels against the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU in 2014. At that time, Ceban was one of the most vocal supporters of Moldova's accession to the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Customs Union.
The moment of the Russian invasion of Ukraine caught Ceban in Moscow . His party, MAN, received advice from an officer of the Russian intelligence service, the FSB; this information appears in the US Treasury’s decision to impose sanctions, under the Magnitsky Act, on several Moldovan and Russian citizens and entities for corruption and undermining the country's European path. Veridica has previously written about Ceban’s connections with the FSB.
Ceban's transformation: relations with Romanian politicians (PSD) and a pro-European discourse
However, Ceban also developed relations with politicians in Romania (especially from the PSD), from mayors such as Constantin Toma of Buzău to former Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. In fact, the last such meeting took place less than a year ago. At that time, Ceban did not pose a threat to Romania's national security.
It was against this backdrop that Ceban's latest political metamorphosis took place. The former communist, socialist, staunch anti-European and ardent supporter of accession to the Customs Union now declares himself pro-European and a speaker of Romanian (the name of the language being a kind of litmus test in Chișinău politics).
In early 2025 – the year in which parliamentary elections will be held in the Republic of Moldova – Ion Ceban founded the "Alternative Bloc," an alliance intended to be the political vehicle for Ceban's "pro-Europeans," who present themselves as a "left-wing" alternative to Maia Sandu's "right-wing" pro-Europeans.
However, Ceban's shift in the run-up to the parliamentary elections has been viewed with suspicion by journalists, politicians, and experts in Chișinău, especially since Ceban's coalition partners are far from being the most pro-European politicians. Among them is former Prime Minister Ion Chicu, who promoted the signing of a loan agreement with the Russian Federation, considered dangerous for the Republic of Moldova and annulled by the Constitutional Court. Also part of the Alternative Bloc is the left-wing Civic Congress party, headed by Mark Tkaciuk, Voronin's former advisor, considered his "gray eminence" and known for his critical statements about European integration and the EU in general. The composition of the Alternative Bloc, as well as Ceban's political past, fuel suspicions that he is posing as pro-European only to attract centrist votes in the elections, with the intention of participating in the formation of a pro-Russian coalition afterwards.
The ban imposed by Romania is a blow to Ceban's (pro-European) image, but it is not likely to jeopardize his political career. He commented on the decision in his characteristic style, blaming the government
Ceban's "colleagues" on the list of people banned from entering Romania, associations with Moldova's toxic oligarchs, but also with the pro-Russian left
However, Ion Ceban is not the only politician from the Republic of Moldova who is banned from entering Romania and, respectively, the Schengen area. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' statement mentions two other citizens, and the press in Chișinău has reported that they are former Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev (also from Voronin's time) and controversial journalist Natalia Morari.
Tarlev was the longest-serving prime minister in Chișinău (2001-2008), but his subsequent attempts to re-enter politics failed and he disappeared until last year when he took over the leadership of an unknown party. Investigative media reported that he is connected to fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor , who promotes Moscow's interests in Chisinau politics.
Natalia Morari is an even more interesting figure. Born in Moldova, she studied and worked as a journalist for an opposition publication in Russia. She was banned from Russia and returned to Chisinau in 2008, but there have always been suspicions about her connections with the Russian secret services.
Morari apparently played an important role in organizing the protests of April 2009, had connections with politicians in Chișinău, became the head of one of the most popular television stations with pro-European views, but in 2021 it came out that her son was conceived with the oligarch Veaceslav Platon.
Platon is considered the author of fraudulent schemes in the post-Soviet space, including the well-known Laundromat. In 2016, he was detained in Kyiv and extradited to Chisinau in an operation that seemed like a settling of scores between Platon and oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc, who at the time was the most powerful man in the Republic of Moldova. Platon was released during Igor Dodon's presidency, apparently with the direct involvement of former Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo, Dodon's presidential candidate in 2024. Stoianoglo is currently one of the leaders of the Alternative Bloc, led by Ceban.
Read also Ion Ceban, the Schengen Area and Parliamentary Elections on Veridica.md
