Cristina Gherasimov took up as secretary general of the President’s staff on October 11. A decree to this effect was signed by President Maia Sandu, IPN reports.

Cristina Gherasimov was dismissed as adviser to the President on foreign policy matters after being named to this post in January 2021. To ensure the continuity of processes at the presidential institution, Cristina Gherasimov will continue to coordinate foreign policy issues.

Before joining the presidential team, Cristina Gherasimov worked as a researcher at the Robert Bosch Center for Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia at the German Council on Foreign Relations. She has a doctor’s degree in political science from the Rutgers University of New Jersey. She did studies and research at the European Institute for Higher International Studies in Nice, France, at the University of Wroclaw, Poland, at the University of Mannheim, Germany, and at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. She administered the Anticorruption Index in Defense at the Transparency International Defense and Security Program and worked as an analyst at the Russia and Eurasia Program of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, the UK.