MOLDOVAN DEFENSE MINISTER RESIGNS FOR UNKNOWN REASONS

Moldovan Defense Minister Vitalie Marinuta has resigned. Prime minister's spokeswoman Liliana Vitu has told Infotag that "Vitalie Marinuta submitted his resignation that has already been signed by Prime Minister Iurie Leanca".

Vitu said that Leanca will ask President Nicolae Timofti to sign Marinuta's resignation. The reasons for the resignation were not announced.

For his part, president's spokesman Vlad Turcanu said that "the head of state knows about the resignation, although the documents signed by the prime minister have not yet reached the presidential administration".

The chairman of the parliamentary faction of the junior coalition partner the Liberal Reformists Party (LRP), Ion Hadirca, said that Vitalie Marinuta, who is a member of this party, "informed the LRP about his honorable resignation".

"We will discuss the situation within the party and will nominate another candidate to the post of defense minister," Hadirca said.

Vitalie Marinuta had held the post of defense minister since September 2009 when the first pro-European government came to power [after eight years of Communist rule]. He kept his post after new pro-European governments were elected in 2010 and May 2013.

The opposition Communist Party has repeatedly asked for the dismissal of Defense Minister Vitalie Marinuta. The opposition explained its request by the fact that nine servicemen died in the Moldovan army over the past three years when Marinuta held the post of defense minister.