Russian Embassy will not issue statement on protest staged by Ilie Cazac’s parents

The Embassy of the Russian Federation in Chisinau will not make statements in connection with the hunger strike of Stela Surchicean and Alexandr Vinitchii, the Embassy’s press attaché Alexei Babenco has told Info-Prim Neo. On Monday, June 14, the press reported that the Embassy is to issue a statement about Ilie Cazac. Stela Surchicean and Alexandr Vinitchii went on huger strike on June 12. They ask the Russian Federation, which is a mediator in the Transnistrian conflict settlement talks in the 5+2 format, to influence the Transnistrian authorities so that they release their son who was arrested in March. Ilie Cazac, 24, is an employee of the Bender Tax Inspectorate. He is accused of spying for Moldova and faces up to 20 years behind bars. The parents haven’t seen him since he was arrested and do not know where he is held and how he feels. “We were told that we will receive a statement from the Embassy. We are waiting,” Ilie’s mother Stela Surchicean stated for Info-Prim Neo. Earlier, the Russian Ambassador in Chisinau Valery Kuzmin told Ilie Cazac’s parents to appeal to the Transnistrian authorities. “The Moldovan Transnistrian Republic is an unrecognized state. But is has state bodies and one should not wait for somebody from outside to come and do justice,” Valery Kuzmin said in a news conference last week.