Law enforcement officers of Ukraine and Moldova conducted a special operation during which they detained three mercenaries of the Wagner PMC and other illegal armed groups.

The National Police reported on this.

More than 200 law enforcement officers from both countries took part in the operation called “Avenger” with the assistance of, among others, the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine and Europol.

It is reported that the three detained Moldovan citizens had taken part in the battle for the Donetsk airport, the capture of Bakhmut, and the creation of the Debaltseve cauldron as part of the Wagner PMC, the Somalia battalion, and other armed groups of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Russia from 2014 to 2023.

During the first stage of the operation, more than 50 searches were conducted at the residences and places of registration of the suspects.

As a result, documents, computer equipment and mobile phones with information on recruitment, conditions of service in the Wagner PMC and confirming the participation of the defendants in hostilities in Ukraine were seized.

The Moldovan police investigators served the three suspects with a notice of suspicion of participation in an armed conflict, military or other violent acts aimed at overthrowing or undermining the constitutional order or violating the territorial integrity of the state (Article 141(1) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Moldova).

The suspects face up to ten years in prison.

The National Police of Ukraine noted that those were only the first of 85 identified Moldovan citizens who had participated in the war on the side of Russia.

The law enforcement officers are documenting all the facts of their recruitment, training, financing and use in hostilities against Ukraine.

Their data has already been forwarded to the competent law enforcement agencies of Moldova, where a series of pre-trial investigations have been launched against them.

“We have already sent a report and our conclusions to European law enforcement agencies that we need to urgently create an international database of mercenaries and together counter this dangerous phenomenon,” said Ivan Vyhivskyi, head of the National Police of Ukraine.