CHISINAU, March 22 Moldovan Defense Minister Anatoly Nosaty said in broadcast on the TV8 channel that there are Moldovan mercenaries in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but could not clarify their number.
Earlier, the leader of the mercenary group Romanian Battlegroup Getica with the call sign «Getodak» told the Romanian media that about 50 Romanians and the same number of Moldovans are fighting on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
When asked to comment on this statement, Nosatii confirmed that there are Moldovan citizens in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. “They act on their own initiative, this happens legally, they joined the military structures of Ukraine,” Nosaty said.
The minister also emphasized that he “does not have data on the number” of Moldovans in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Moldova issued a warning in September 2022 that participation in hostilities on the territory of other countries is punishable by imprisonment for up to ten years. The ministry noted that the Moldovan authorities must take measures to prevent and counter mercenary activities, as well as to identify and detain mercenaries.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, almost 6 thousand foreign mercenaries who arrived in Ukraine to fight on the side of the Kyiv regime were killed during a special military operation, the “leader” on this list is Poland. 784 mercenaries arrived from Romania, 349 were destroyed, the Russian Defense Ministry noted.
The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation has put on the wanted list more than 700 foreign mercenaries who fought and are fighting on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, some of them were arrested in absentia.