RENATO USATII SAYS VLAD PLAHOTNIUC IS GOING TO KILL HIM

Renato Usatii, leader of the Partidul Nostru [Our Party, OP] and Mayor of Balti, the country's second largest city, has accused Democratic Party leader Vlad Plahotniuc of an intention "to eliminate me physically".

Usatii stated in his video address in the social networks on Tuesday evening that "the task to eliminate me has been entrusted by Plahotniuc to his henchman Alexandru Jizdan, the Minister of the Interior. According to the information I have learnt from Plahotniuc's surrounding, my question must be solved by January 10 at the latest".

"I have learnt that Minister Jizdan has been ordered to deliver Usatii to Moldova by no later January 10 - alive or dead", stated the opposition politician, hiding in Moscow since August 2016 from what he calls "the Plahotniuc justice in Moldova".

"Of course, I will undertake all necessary precaution measures. As for those who will participate in my kidnapping from Moscow or in my physical liquidation, they will find themselves either in jail or at a cemetery. Certainly, both of these two possible variants will be traditionally arranged 'on fully legal grounds'", said the politician in order to avoid possible interpretations that he is allegedly threatening to police officers.

In this connection, Renato Usatii warned Minister Jizdan and his subordinates against making ill-thought steps, and reminded of the Minister's involvement in a number of crimes, including a memorable hired murder in the center of Chisinau.