“The leader Putin failed to break”. Maia Sandu, named “World Leader of the Year” by The Telegraph publication

The President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, was named “World Leader of the Year 2025” by the British publication The Telegraph. “The leader that Putin failed to break” is the title that British journalists gave to Maia Sandu.

“Maia Sandu is designated by The Telegraph The World Leader of the Year, after defying the Kremlin and turning the Republic of Moldova into a front line of European democracy. (…) Perhaps he is the poorest head of state in the world. But, in a year in which decency was subjected to constant trials, Maia Sandu proved to be its strongest defender”, notes The Telegraph.

The publication also notes in this context that Maia Sandu's salary is less than £1,000 per month, something that the President of the Republic of Moldova said in several interviews, noting that she no longer has the savings she made when she was working at the World Bank, until she returned to Moldova. Between 2010 and 2012, Maia Sandu worked as an advisor to the Executive Director at the World Bank, in Washington.

The Telegraph refers to the unprecedented informational attack of the Russian Federation in the run-up to last year's presidential elections, as well as the parliamentary elections on September 28. In addition to disinformation actions, there were several electoral corruption schemes through the so-called network of Ilan Şor, fugitive oligarch, sentenced to 15 years in prison for large-scale money laundering.

As a result of the actions of the legal structures in the Republic of Moldova, “Sor's grouping” was disorganized, and Șor herself announced her retirement from politics, almost two months after the parliamentary elections.

Following the parliamentary election in the autumn of this year, the Action and Solidarity Party, founded in 2015 by Maia Sandu, obtained 53 out of 101 mandates in the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova. The campaign for these elections was marked by several scandals and revelations, made within journalistic investigations about Russia's involvement in the financing of some candidates.