Two Transnistrian generals – the former leader of the so-called KGB Vladimir Antiufeev and the current Transnistrian leader Vadim Krasnoselski – for about ten years have been able to doge international criminal prosecution, being wanted by Moldova for abuse of power, malfeasance or obstruction of the right to vote on the left bank of the Nistru, according to a journalistic investigation titled "Generals without borders" and published by RISE Moldova.
For many years now the de-facto leaders in Tiraspol have unsucessfully asked authorities in Chisinau to stop criminal cases against Transnistrian officials. Yet somehow – the investigation notes – Transnistrian politicians, the two KGB generals included, have been able to freely cross the Moldovan borders into neighboring countries hundreds of times despite being placed on international wanted lists.
The investigation says that Vladimir Antiufeev, who has been wanted since 2004, has officially moved over the Ukrainian border as a Russian citizen, including in cars with registration numbers of the Russian Embassy in Moldova.
According to RISE Moldova, "in Ukraine an international manhunt for Antiufeev was officially launched in 2017, yet not for crimes against Moldova, but for participating in the leadership of the ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ terrorist organization in eastern Ukraine and for supporting the annexation of the autonomous Republic of Crimea by Russia." Currently, the general is hiding in Russia, where he is employed in two enterprises of the military-industrial complex of the Russian Federation.
The investigation shows that the current leader of Transnistria Vadim Krasnoselski, placed by Moldova on international wanted lists from 2007 to 2015, crossed the border into Ukraine almost every month using either a Russian or a Ukrainian passport.
In a comment for RISE, Ion Costaș, the former Minister of Defense of Moldova, said that for the crimes against the State, all the leaders from the left bank of the Nistru, and those who founded Transnistria, and those who led it later, must be held accountable.
"They took responsibility, they knew what they were doing. They led criminal structures against the statehood of the Republic of Moldova, against this people, against the integrity of this State”, Costaș considers.
