The Moldovan authorities notified the political administration of the Russian Federation of the abusive treatment of Moldovan officials of Parliament, Government, special services and parties of the ruling alliance of Moldova in Russia. Speaker of Parliament Andrian Candu and Prime Minister Pavel Filip on March 9 had a meeting with Russia’s Ambassador in Chisinau Farit Muhametshin, where they asked that the given note should be transmitted to the Russian authorities, IPN reports.
According to the legislature’s press service, the Russian authorities were earlier informed about these abuses by different approaches, but they remained unanswered and the situation continued and even worsened.
The note describes the way in which Moldovan officials are abusively stopped before entering Russia, are interrogated, searched and treated in a humiliating way by representatives of Russian special services. Such behavior is both inappropriate and unjustified. It also says about the abusive way in which one of the Russian institutions tried to repeatedly impose international monitoring on a number of Moldovan politicians, including MPs, using false and truncated information for the purpose, during the past several months.
“All these abuses, harassment of Moldovan officials before entering the Russian Federation and placing under international monitoring intensified with the progress made by Moldovan investigators in the case of the laundering of US$22 million from Russia through Moldindconbank, more exactly, after officials of this bank were arrested, while judges and bailiffs were charged, with the cases against some of these being already sent to court,” says the press release.
It notes that the abuses also intensified after Moldovan investigators asked Russian competent bodies to provide relevant information for determining the origin of the money. During the past several months, at least 25 Moldovan officials were stopped and treated abusively before entering Russia. Moldovan officers involved in the given investigation were subject to similar treatment. Also, the law enforcement bodies of Russia refuse to cooperate with the Moldovan investigators in this case.
The Speaker and Premier informed Ambassador Farit Muhametshin that they received notices from Moldovan law enforcement agencies about risks faced by Moldovan officials, including when travelling to Russia. As a result, it was decided to transmit this official note to the Russian administration whereby this is asked to immediately intervene and stop the abuses. The diplomat was also informed that until this problem is not solved, the Moldovan officials will be recommended to refrain from travelling to Russia.
Moldovan officials said the data analyzed so far show the given problem is actually not political in character and the abuses were initiated on the instruction of one of the Russian special services.
