The armed forces of Moldova and those who voluntarily went to the Nistru war have been betrayed, humiliated and derided by the then political class and the current administration, General Ion Costas, Minister of the Interior and Minister of Defense at the start of the 1990s, said in an interview for Moldova.ORG, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. “First of all, we must admit that the Nistru conflict started not in 1992, but in 1990, in Dubasari. Even the chairman of the Russian State Duma Gennady Selezniov recognized this in 2005. The Russians intervened earlier because there was the ‘danger’ of union with Romania. The people suffered before 1992 as well and this fact wasn’t recognized officially,” said Ion Costas. He also said that he proposed writing the names of those killed in the Nistru war on the Triumphal Arch. According to him, over 200 people died at the front officially and it is the duty of society to eternize their names. The General said this is the least we can do for those killed and their families. Asked about the arrest of the former Transnistrian leader Igor Smirnov, Ion Costas said Smirnov was set free immediately after he was caught. “He heard that he was to be arrested and fled to Kiev. He was ultimately arrested by a special team constituted in Chisinau. Smirnov went to Kiev to meet with Kravchuk (Leonid Kravchuk, the then President of Ukraine – e.n.). He wanted to hand over a petition, asking including Transnistrian in the composition of Ukraine,” he stated. According to the General, the team managed to bring Smirnov to Chisinau through Soroca. “In the morning, when I got to Chisinau, I phoned the then President Mircea Snegur. Unfortunately, he and a number of MPs had signed an ordinance to release Smirnov, at somebody’s order. He should have been tried according to the legislation for all the committed crimes,” said Ion Costas. He considers that the Prosecutor’s Office is to blame for the fact that Smirnov does not have a criminal record now. “The then Prosecutor General Dumitru Postovan gave his consent to releasing Smirnov. The order came from above, but he should have observed the law, not allow Smirnov to leave,” said Ion Costas, adding that if Smirnov hadn’t been released then, everything would have been different and the Transnistrian conflict wouldn’t have existed. Asked if there is sufficient political will in Chisinau to resolve the Transnistrian conflict, the General said that those who came to power are young and do not understand many things, but do not want to listen to the elderly ones. “They probably want the dispute to be resolved, but they don’t know the subtleties of this conflict and thus cannot work out long-term strategies for reintegrating the country. We must seek international support to solve this conflict as alone will are unable to,” he stated. On February 22, Ion Costas celebrates his 68th birthday.