Moldova Cracks Paramilitary Gang Recruiting Ukraine Fighters

The Moldovan intelligence service, SIS, on Wednesday said it had broken up a paramilitary group that had links to the pro-Russian separatist cause in eastern Ukraine.

The SIS said the group had been under counter-terrorist surveillance for over a year, and the SIS had in the meantime established connections between its members and mercenary entities in eastern Ukraine.

The clampdown operation was conducted in 13 locations within the Chisinau municipality.

Findings included eight F1 grenades, 260 cartridges measuring 5.45 mm, 39 cartridges of 9 mm and five 7.62 mm cartridges, the SIS in a press release.During the raids, SIS officers said they found various types of weapons and components of combat weapons, including warheads and grenade launchers.

They also found ideological symbols such as flags, ribbons, and military badges used by mercenaries in Ukraine. At some members' houses, they said they found found real-time GPS Trackers.

The SIS said the paramilitary group had engaged also in secretly monitoring and assessing Moldova's military and critical infrastructure objectives.

In April, the intelligence service told BIRN that it had identified at least 62 people, mostly from the breakaway region of Transnistria, fighting for pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine.

After assessing that military games were being used to recruit mercenaries for the fight in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, a number of individuals were taken under the radar by the Moldovan authorities during recent years, for participating in such activities.

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