Rosian Vasiloi

The Moldovan Border Police detained lawmaker Yevhen Yakovenko, 57, from Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region on Sunday evening and placed him in pre-trial detention in Chisinau.

Interpol issued an international 'red notice' for Yakovenko's arrest at the request of the Belarusian authorities.

Moldovan Defence Minister Victor Gaiciuc told BIRN that his country was not worried about Russian military exercises in the breakaway region of Transnistria in the context of the recent Russian reinforcements near the Ukraine border.

Security experts in Moldova are raising questions about the resilience of the country's cyber defences after a massive operation at the European level, to which Moldova contributed, uncovered and closed the biggest DarkNet website selling drugs, stolen credit card data and malware.

The Council of the European Union on Monday extended until October 2021 the restrictive measures it has imposed on representatives of the separatist regime in Transnistria, banning then from entering EU countries - but observers noted that the list of individuals sanctioned is outdated and includes people who are no longer part of the administration in Tiraspol.

A government minister in Moldova has admitted security concerns about the country's currently frozen "golden visa" programme, but added that the bonuses need to be taken into account.

Economy Minister Anatol Usatii told a political TV show called 'Black Box' on Thursday that most of the 30 applications had come from Syria, Pakistan and India.

Moldova must raise the issue of intimidation faced by Moldovan army veterans living in breakaway Transnistria during negotiations with the rebel region, a Chisinau-based think-tank says.

Moldova's Security and Intelligence Service, SIS, told BIRN that it has identified 62 persons from the country as taking part in mercenary activities in Ukraine since Russia's annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and in the conflict in the Eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian and pro-Russian separatist forces.