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The Director of the Security and Intelligence Service of the Republic of Moldova (SIS) Alexandru Musteata announced on Monday, in a livestreamed press briefing in Chisinau, the dismantling of a spy network operating against the Republic of Moldova.
The Security and Intelligence Service, alongside prosecutors with the Prosecutor's Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS), have sent to court a criminal case for treason and espionage against two agents of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB).
According to the head of the SIS, Russian citizens Yuriy G. and Vadim I. have been trained since 2020 in organizing malicious activities against the security of the Republic of Moldova and its citizens. Acting under the command of the FSB, the two identified and recruited citizens of the Republic of Moldova, thus building an agentura (Russian informants') network.
''The activity of the Russian citizens and the agentura network was oriented towards influencing the social-political processes of the Republic of Moldova in the interests of the Russian Federation. At the same time, in order to maintain the dependence of the Republic of Moldova on Russia, the two carried out information operations to shape public opinion'," said Alexandru Musteata.
''During the two years of documenting the activity of the agentura network, the two collected data and information of a social-political nature, especially about legislative intentions and plans, compromising information about political leaders and political actors, and organized shadowy information projects, such as online campaigns, through several social media platforms, with a major focus on the Telegram network, which is the platform on which most false information is distributed," the SIS chief detailed.
Moreover, after 24 February 2022, the group committed crimes under a foreign flag and recruited citizens with the aim of participating in or provoking violent acts. The activity of creating channels for transferring financial means from the Russian Federation to the Republic of Moldova for the purpose of financing subversive operations against the interests and security of the Moldovan state was also documented in the case trial.
In this regard, one of the agents recruited by Yuriy G. and Vadim I. was tasked to identify and secure such financial channels, provide related logistical support to projects commissioned and financed by the FSB, and recruit other citizens of the Republic of Moldova. Transfer via crypto-currency, but also via the so-called Hawala system, involving currency exchange houses were identified among the channels of illegal fund transfers. In total, through these channels alone, an amount of about 500,000 USD was transferred in 2021 from the Russian Federation to the Republic of Moldova, money used in the implementation of the described illegal activity. The agent in question, a Moldovan citizen, was recruited on the basis of material incentive, starting with 2021. He is in custody and is accused of committing the crime of treason, and is liable to a criminal penalty of 12 to 20 years' imprisonment.
The criminal prosecution continues and the Security and Intelligence Service and the Prosecutor's Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases will return with details during the course of the prosecution.
Persons accused of committing a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty by a final court decision, Musteata recalled.
According to Deschide.MD, Vadim I., identified as Vadim Yurchenko, is Igor Dodon's deputy in the Moldovan-Russian Business Union. Previously, RISE Project Moldova wrote, with reference to sources within the special services, that this is an "agent" of the Russian FSB or apd-ist (abbreviation of the phrase "detached personnel apparatus") - as are called the officers of the security services attached to a person or organization, in order to carry out the control on behalf of the special services.
Yurchenco is 40 years old and has held various positions, from specialist to deputy director in Russian state institutions such as the Federal Penitentiary Service, enterprises within the "Rostec" industrial holding (set up by Russian President Vladimir Putin), as well as the Inter RAO EES corporation (owner of the Kuchurgan power station in Transnistria) and the state-controlled Russian company "MRSK Centre".
As for Yuriy G. (Gudilin), he is known as one of the Russian consultants who helped the Moldovan socialists in several election campaigns, including the 2020 presidential campaign. Like Yurchenco, Gudilin previously worked for MRSK Centre.
Gudilin is considered by the US to be an FSB officer. In October 2022, Yuriy Gudilin and two other "political technologists", Olga Grak and Leonid Gonin, were included on the US sanctions list for their involvement of Kremlin operations in the Republic of Moldova for attempting to influence the outcome of the 2020 and 2021 elections. AGERPRES
