Former Moldovan spy chief loses citizenship after East-West swap
Moldovan President Maia Sandu revoked the citizenship of Alexandru Balan on June 23, following his involvement in a high-profile international prisoner exchange. Balan is the former deputy director of the country’s Intelligence and Security Service (SIS).
The official decree was published on the presidential website, concluding a complex geopolitical espionage case.
The espionage swap
President Sandu previously pardoned Balan on April 28, 2026, enabling his exchange for two Moldovan intelligence officers detained in Moscow. The Russian authorities had arrested the two Moldovans in 2025 on espionage charges.
The international exchange operation was executed with diplomatic and intelligence support from the United States, Romania, and Poland. Balan, exposed as an agent for the Belarusian KGB, was swapped alongside Russian citizen Nina Popova.
Upon arriving in Belarus, state KGB officials welcomed Balan with flowers. President Sandu noted that Balan leaked sensitive state secrets exclusively when Moldova was under the control of fugitive oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc.
Arrest and conviction
The former intelligence official holds dual Moldovan and Romanian citizenship. Romanian authorities arrested him in Timisoara on September 8, 2025, for leaking Romanian state secrets to pro-Moscow Belarusian intelligence services.
A Moldovan court sentenced Balan in absentia to 18 months in prison for disclosing state secrets on April 15, 2026. Romania extradited him to Moldovan authorities on April 24, days before the international swap took place.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
