Mircea Snegur (pronounced [ˈmirtʃe̯a ˈsneɡur]; 17 January 1940 – 13 September 2023) was a Moldovan agronomist and politician who served as the first President of Moldova from 1990 to 1997.

[4] During his term, he supported the bill to make Moldovan the official language and the return of the tricolor flag of Moldova.

In July, Snegur signed with Russian president Boris Yeltsin a treaty to mark the end of the Transnistrian War.

[7] Despite this Snegur proved to be opposed to immediate reunification with Romania, which led to a split with the Popular Front of Moldova in October 1991.

Snegur ran as the Party of Rebirth and Conciliation's candidate in the 1996 presidential election, where he won a plurality, but not a majority, of votes in the first round.

[9] In 1960,[10] he married Georgeta Snegur (23 April 1937 – 23 December 2019),[11] and had a daughter, Natalia Gherman, who was acting prime minister of Moldova in 2015, and a son.

[12][13][14] President Maia Sandu declared mourning day for 16 September with a nationwide minute of silence at 12:00 PM.