The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration said that one week after making official approaches to the Russian authorities, Moldova’s delegation, by its own effort, identified the whereabouts of the Moldovan citizens Lionel Buruiană and Mihai Crihan, who were set free in Afghanistan, where they had been held hostage since 2015. Travelling to the medical institution in Moscow, after hours of talks with the security agents of an NGO, the Moldovan officials were allowed to discuss with the pilots for ten minutes only, IPN reports.

According to the Ministry, the Moldovan officials were obliged to meet unfounded conditions that run counter to the international law and common sense – limitation of the topics of conversation. They were banned from asking the pilots since when the two were in that hospital.

The guards asked the delegation members to yield the phones and any other electronic devices even if the given restriction several days ago was lifted in relation to a number of persons, including journalists, who gained access to the Moldovan citizens. The guards also thoroughly checked the identity of the Moldovan delegation that consisted of representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration and diplomats working at Moldova’s Embassy in Russia, saying they do this in the name of an NGO.

In the short meeting with the two Moldovan citizens, the governmental delegation was unable to assess their situation in detail. The doctors who formed part of the delegation could yet determine that the state of health of the two citizens allows transporting the two to Moldova immediately.

The Ministry expresses its profound indignation at the way in which our compatriots are held and treated, in a fully non-transparent way, and at the compete ignoring of the Government representatives’ requests.

President Igor Dodon in a press briefing on February 11 announced that the two Moldovan citizens who had been held hostage in Afghanistan since 2015 were set free. These are now at a hospital in Moscow and at the end of this week will be brought to Moldova. The release was possible owing  to the involvement of the Russian administration following an approach made by him. After the briefing, Parliament Speaker Andrian Candu on a social networking site wrote that President Dodon wanted the two Moldovans to return home in the election campaign and this situation is used cynically. The Moldovan hostages were to get home four months ago, when the Moldovan au theories completed the negotiations, but everything got blocked on the last moment. Later, the Prosecutor General’s Office announced it will examine the last public statements about the involvement of forces for the purpose of delaying the process of releasing the Moldovan pilots held hostage in Afghanistan.