That outlet was (and is) one of the go-to reputation-laundering mills for the crooked and corrupt out of the former Soviet Union.
—didn’t actually work for Plahotniuc
—didn’t work at the behest of a “foreign government,” and so didn’t have to register with FARA
Neither of which are plausible defenses.
Both working vocally on behalf of notoriously corrupt actors, not registering with FARA, and claiming they didn’t have to because it wasn’t *their* consulting firm on the contract.