The letters sent by the families of Ernest Vardanyan and Ilie Cazac to the Russian Embassy in Chisinau are resent to Tiraspol not accidentally. This way, the Russian Ambassador to Moldova Valery Kuzmin highlights the position of the Transnistrian authorities, entrusting the institutions there with the task of solving these cases, considers Victor Chirila, the executive director of the Foreign Policy Association. The expert told Info-Prim Neo that by such behavior, Russia tells Moldova that Transnistria is an important player that must be treated more seriously. “At the same time, neither our Western partners show interest in these regrettable cases that seem to me internal cases that can be used to exert pressure on certain political players in Transnistria before the legislative elections that will take place in the region in December this year,” Victor Chirila said. He stressed that the arrests of journalist Ernest Vardanyan and the employee of the Bender Tax Inspectorate Ilie Cazac represented attempts to keep the civil society under strict control. According to Chirila, though the civil society in Transnistria is fragile, it shows that it does not share the ideas of the Smirnov regime and makes known its discontents that threaten the medium-and long-term stability in the region. “Unfortunately, Vardanyan and Cazac are prisoners of this logic, but this does not mean that our Western partners forgot about them. The discussions are not visible as they are more informal and are held with Transnistrian officials as well. The Transnistrian authorities set a trap for the Moldovan authorities and wanted to make the situation tense, but they failed in their attempts,” Victor Chirila said. Ernest Vardanyan and Ilie Cazac are accused of spying for Moldova and face up to 20 years in jail.