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Southeast Europe
April 13, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 12
Ukraine claims it thwarted assassination of Moldovan oligarch Plahotniuc
bne IntelliNews
Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and chief of police Sergey Knyazev announced at a joint press conference on April 7 that Ukrainian and Moldovan law enforcement bodies carried out a joint operation to stop an attempt to assassinate the president of the ruling Democratic Party of Moldova (PD), Vlad Plahotniuc.
The case remains unclear, but it coincides with rising tensions related to the Moldovan separatist republic of Transnistria, which faces major eco- nomic pressure as Ukraine and Moldova coop- erate on a series of measures including border control. As the next step, the Moldovan authori- ties might claim full control of some assets on Transnistria’s territory – namely the electricity transport grid – after the separatists asked for a transit fee for electricity purchased from Ukraine.
The border service and police in Ukraine and their Moldovan counterparts are working together, Knyazev underlined, with those involved in the attempt arrested in Kyiv and Chisinau. The as- sassination was ordered by two individuals whose identity has not been revealed yet, he added. One of them was located in Moscow, the other in Mol- dova. The involvement of the Russian intelligence services was alleged by Ukrainian officials.
The state border service of Ukraine provided details of the operation in a statement on April
8, which identified the target of the plot as be- ing Plahotniuc and mentioned that the organised crime group coordinated their actions with “Rus- sian special services”. According to the plan, the
criminals were going to hide in Ukraine in an at- tempt to discredit the law enforcement bodies in Kyiv and damage relations between the two countries.
Ukraine came into possession of information about a crime against a former member of the Moldovan government, currently a businessper- son – an apparent reference to Plahotnuic – a few months ago. Those who ordered the crime had already paid $100,000 and promised another $100,000 after the operation. 17 people have been arrested in Kyiv and Chisinau on suspicion of being part of an organised criminal group so far. Members of the group have previously been involved in criminal actions including murder, kidnapping and robbery, the statement said. The operation was started by Moldovan and Ukrainian law enforcement bodies on April 6 when some of the group entered Moldovan territory, bypassing customs points.
Eight people were detained in Moldova (six of them are Moldovan with multiple citizenship and two Ukrainians). Officers found in their posses- sion four RPG-26 grenade launchers, two CZ-75 pistols with silencers and ammunition. Nine other members of the group, two of whom previously fought in Donbas, were arrested in Ukraine.
The Moldovan police confirmed the whole opera- tion at a press conference later the same day, but the statement issued by the Moldovan officials does not refer to the participation of the Rus- sian security services, nor does it directly men-