Investigative journalists of RISE Moldova, together with Ukrainian counterparts from Слiдство.инфо, identified four more persons from Ukraine with false passports who eventually formed part of the group of persons who became involved in the kidnapping in Chisinau of former judge Nikolai Ceaus, IPN reports, quoting a new investigation of RISE Moldova.

Two citizens with passports issued in the name of Alexei Sotnikov and Alexei Nechaaev entered Moldova ten days before the kidnapping of Nikolai Ceaus. Eight days before the kidnapping, Andrei Borodinoi and Serghei Goncear came to Moldova. In six hours of the kidnapping, three of those men, except for Serghei Goncear, left Moldova.

Looking for the men in different Ukrainian databases, the reporters determined that the group of foreign citizens entered Moldova with ‘cover’ passports that are used by intelligence services for special operations.

The journalists also learned that no criminal case over the kidnapping of the Ukrainian citizen Nikolai Ceaus in Chisinau had been started in Ukraine by April 26 (three weeks after the kidnapping).

Several days earlier, the co-author of the international investigation, RISE journalist Vladimir Thorik, in an interview for Global Voices, anticipated that the kidnapping of the judge who is suspected of corruption will lead to a temporary deterioration in relations between Ukraine and Moldova.

“Any of the scenarios (refuge of Ceaus in Moldova and his disappearance) are a clear proof of the fact that the political elites in Ukraine and Moldova, using for many years the law enforcement and justice agencies for personal purposes, have endangered regional security,” noted Thorik.