The man was arrested on suspicion of unauthorized collection of information about the left-bank Dniester region, including restricted areas, the SIS said. At the request of the Prosecutor's Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS), a court ordered him held in custody for 30 days.
Authorities say the officer used a prearranged cover story of a tourist trip to visit local monasteries, but his true destination was the left-bank Dniester region. The SIS said the primary purpose of the visit was to gather data that could be stored or used to damage Moldova’s sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, state security or defense capability.
The SIS also said the man previously stayed in Moldova from
September 2017 to September 2019 and during that period “acted to the detriment
of the country’s security, independence, and territorial integrity.” He entered
then using a diplomatic passport issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry but did
not seek accreditation with Moldova’s Foreign Ministry, a step the SIS said
violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.