Moldova's Chisinau airport transferred into state ownership- deputy PM

Ownership of Moldova’s largest airport, which serves the capital Chisinau, has been passed to the state by an appeals court, Deputy PM Andrei Spinu said on Wednesday. “Chisinau International Airport is returning to state ownership. I congratulate the people of Moldova,” Spinu wrote on the Telegram app, citing the country’s justice minister. Control of the airport was handed over for a 49-year term in 2018 to a company associated with politician and businessman Ilan Shor, who fled Moldova in 2019 after the election of pro-Western President Maia Sandu. Shor, who is in exile in Israel, has backed protests in Chisinau demanding the resignation of Sandu’s government as inflation and energy costs rise in the former Soviet republic. Shor’s party, which advocates friendly relations with Russia, has blamed Moldova’s problems on Sandu’s strong condemnation of Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. <br/>