Politics

MOLDOVAN DIPLOMATS FLEW TO MOSCOW TO COLLECT LIBERATED PILOTS - RENATO USATII

12 february, 2019

On Monday, a delegation from the Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, together with medical specialists, urgently flew to Moscow to collect the two Moldovan helicopter pilots released from Taliban captivity in Afghanistan last Saturday, Renato Usatii, leader of the strongly opposition Partidul Nostru [Our Party, OP], announced via the Facebook.

"All of them must be back in Chisinau later on Monday night. The liberated pilots, Ion Buruiana and Mihai Crihan, will be welcomed in Chisinau by Parliament Chairman Andrian Candu and Prime Minister Pavel Filip [both being Deputy Chairmen of the ruling Democratic Party]. I guess President Dodon will be begging Moscow not to give the pilots to the visitors", said the opposition politician.

"Unfortunately, we are going to become the viewers of another very sad cinema. Now Moldovan politicians are struggling for the valuable opportunity to deliver home now, i.e. a few days before elections, the poor people who spent several years in captivity. Meanwhile, yet last April, I was doing everything possible to liberate them then and not 10 months later, before the elections", said Renato Usatii, who has been hiding in Moscow since August 2016 from what he calls "the Plahotniuc justice in Moldova",

In his words, at that period he was closely following the situation of the captive Moldovan pilots, "when they were sold by one Taliban band over to another".

"I sent the information about the pilots to the secret services of 4 countries, including to Moldovan ones. I told them then: "Go and collect the guys. Solve and close down this question, and until then I will not be commenting anything. Or give me the possibility to help them by myself - up to exchanging them for me", said Usatii.

According to him, negotiations with Afghan Talibs concerning the pilots were held also by ruling Democratic Party leader Vlad Plahotniuc.

"He entered into negotiations with them via his contacts in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Plahotniuc was making his own game, and Dodon started his own. It was exactly Dodon who was holding the pilots in captivity, marking time. A day will necessarily come when Dodon will find himself in jail", said Renato Usatii.

"I had a meeting with the Talibs, who showed me that our guys were alive. One day I will bring the Talibs to Chisinau, and they will tell the whole true story. And Dodon will be sent to jail for keeping innocent people captives for extra 10 months", promised Our Party leader.

As was already reported by Infotag, on November 24, 2015 a MI-17 helicopter belonging to the Valan ICC Company of Moldova was carrying out a routine flying job in the framework of a peacekeeping operation under the United Nations' aegis in Afghanistan and, carrying a total of 21 persons on board, mostly the Afghanistan governmental soldiers and officers, was shot down by Talibs. A crew member managed to contact the Valan Company to say that they made a forced landing in the Fariab Province controlled by the Taliban. Three people died during an exchange of fire, and 18 were taken prisoners. After that the Talibs burned down the helicopter. Air vessel commander Oleg Groza died in the machine crash. His body was delivered to Chisinau in December 2015.

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