Russian Cultural Centre in Chisinau Permanently Shuts Down

The Russian Center for Science and Culture in Chisinau permanently ceased operations on July 4 after Moldova's parliament — which had ratified denunciation of the underlying 1998/2001 bilateral treaty on November 27, 2025 — terminated the agreement authorising its presence. The government framed the closure as a direct response to escalating security incidents, notably repeated Russian drone incursions into Moldovan airspace, and to long-standing accusations that the centre served as a front for state propaganda and hybrid-warfare operations. Moldova's parliament speaker separately described a Russian proposal to relocate the centre's functions to Tiraspol as a "political provocation."