Alexei Lungu

Intimidation against journalists On 1 July 2025, during a hearing of a criminal case against Gagauzia's governor Guțul at the Buiucani Courthouse in Chișinău, Ziarul de Gardă journalist Măriuța Nistor was intimidated and threatened by Lungu with the opening of a criminal case against her over "forgery and use of forgery". A similar incident occurred earlier that same day and place against TVR Moldova journalist Angelica Ungureanu. Furthermore, the Moldovan NGO Promo-LEX reported that, on 24 August, a member of its observer mission was intimidated and verbally attacked by Lungu during a public event in Orhei, stating that the affected observer had filed a complaint to the police.

Between May and 21 July 2025, as reported by Romanian news site Veridicas Moldovan edition, the CA received around 30 SLAPP lawsuits, signed by Lungu and former journalist Valeriu Reniță, against moderators of several evening political talk shows on the TV channels Jurnal TV, Moldova 1, ProTV Chișinău, TV8 and TVR Moldova. The lawsuits' aim was to intimidate said moderators and TV channels, according to Veridica.md. Association of Independent Press (API) director Petru Macovei linked such behaviors like Lungu's, undertaken "specially by those from pro-Russian parties", to journalistic efforts to publish and reveal illegal actions and Russian influence activities in Moldova.

On 25 April 2025, Lungu's Romanian identity card was annulled, something he only discovered in early May, when he was not allowed to fly from the Iași International Airport to Istanbul. This was after police officers of Romania's Ministry of Internal Affairs verified that many other Moldovans were also registered at Lungu's address in Romania. As reported by Romanian newspaper Adevărul, such situations were common due to intermediaries identifying formal addresses for Moldovans with reacquired Romanian citizenship in exchange for money, as they required an address in Romania to receive a Romanian ID card. Lungu had presented his Romanian ID card upon his return on 28 May 2024 from the economic forum in Moscow. On 25 July, Lungu and most of the previous individuals and entities were included in the Moldovan authorities' sanctions list by Moldova's Interinstitutional Supervisory Council, headed by Prime Minister Dorin Recean, as they "help Shor bring disorder and destabilization to our country" as Recean stated, resulting in their bank accounts being blocked.

Switzerland joined the EU's 15 July sanctions against Lungu and the rest on 12 August. Canada followed suit on 28 August after it imposed sanctions against Lungu, 15 other individuals and two entities in Moldova as they were accused of involvement in actions of Russian interference before Moldova's 2025 parliamentary election, meaning that Lungu and the others would be unable to enter Canada, their assets in the country would be blocked and any financial transactions with them would be prohibited.