Petru Lucinschi (pronounced [ˈpetru luˈtʃinski]; born 27 January 1940) is a former Moldovan politician who was Moldova's second President from 1997 to 2001.

[5] In early 1991, he was appointed Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, so he again left Moldavian SSR for Moscow.

Upon his assumption to office, many Western media outlets portrayed him as a Moscow man who remained oriented toward the Soviet past.

It also marked the beginning of Moldova's distance from the nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States and closer relations with the European Union.

[13] Upon the death of former Russian president Boris Yeltsin, he described him as a politician who "paid a lot of attention to the national aspirations of countries of the USSR conglomerate", saying in addition that he "played an essential role for young independent states like Moldova".

[14] In 2018, he published his book Pyotr Kirillovich Luchinsky – Member of the Politburo and President, authored by Russian writer Mikhail Lukichev.

[15][16] In early 2019, President Igor Dodon invited Lucinschi together with ex-president Mircea Snegur on a tour of the newly renovated Presidential Palace,[17] which was in need for repairs for over a decade.