A Moldovan winery has removed Vladimir Putin’s wines from a display that celebrates the leading politicians that have visited the cellar, a sign of the strained relationship between the former Soviet republic and the Kremlin..
The Russian leader celebrated his 50th birthday at the state-owned Cricova Winery in 2002, north of Moldova’s capital, Chișinău, two years into his first presidential term, Decanter reported.
Moldova’s former President Vladimir Voronin, a communist, gave Putin, a teetotaler, a collection of wines during the visit. They were added to an exhibition of famous visitors, along with his picture.
However, they have now been cleared out. After Russia invaded Ukraine, ‘we got lots of questions that we could not answer about why he was still here,’ winery director Sorin Maslo told The New York Times.
The bottles have been moved to a dark, sealed-off area of the winery so that ‘nobody has to deal with him,’ he added.
Famous visitors to Cricova include Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, former German chancellor Angela Merkel and former US Secretary of State John Kerry. Other famous names inlude Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space.
Hermann Goering, Hitler’s right-hand man, is still featured prominently on display. His presence highlights just how bad your reputation must be before you are banished from this exhibition.
The snub reflects tensions between Moldova and Russia. Moldova was a major supplier of wine to Russia until 2013. Moscow then imposed an embargo on Moldovan wine after the country announced it intended to join the EU.
In October, Moldovan voters approved a change to the country’s constitution, which moves Moldova out of Moscow’s sphere of influence and aligns it more closely with the EU.
Cricova is one of the largest wine cellars in the former Soviet republic, with 120 kilometers miles of labyrinthine roadways under the winery. Half of the roadways in this underground ‘wine city’ are used for wine storage.
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