Moldovan citizens were trained to use drones in secret paramilitary camps in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) during the summer of 2024, and their instructors were linked to the Russian private army "Wagner", the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) reported.
BIRN, with the Moldovan investigative network CU SENS, discovered that Moldovans in the forests of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina were being taught defensive skills by Russian citizens, who turned out to be linked to the Wagner Group and are therefore under sanctions by the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom and the United States (US), ahead of the presidential elections in that country.
In October last year, about a dozen Moldovan citizens were arrested for this, and the Prosecutor's Office in Chisinau claims that they were preparing to cause mass riots before, during and after the presidential elections in that country.
In the presidential elections in Moldova, pro-European candidate Maja Sandu defeated her rival, Aleksandar Stoyanov, who was supported by the pro-Russian current in that country, and the European Commission announced after the elections that Russia had intensively interfered in the electoral process.
The training camp cases were filed by prosecutors in Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and they state that the trainings took place from August to October 2024 and that the participants learned how to operate drones.
According to the prosecutor's office in Chisinau, the Moldovans came to Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina twice, and upon arrival their phones and passports were confiscated, while their movement was restricted.
One of the arrested camp participants, Maksim Roska, told BIRN that the instructors initially did not explain the reason for their training, only to later state that the participants should "learn to defend themselves".
He added that the instructors promised them that the participants would be paid between $300 and $500, in cryptocurrency.
The villages of Glamočani near Banja Luka and Radenka, near the Serbian border with Romania, were listed as training locations at the hearing in Moldova.
In October, immediately after the arrest of the Moldovans, Serbian media reported that the Security and Information Agency (BIA), in cooperation with the police, "ended illegal activities on a rural property near Kučevo", and that several drones, satellite communication equipment and various flammable liquids were found there.
A trial is currently underway against at least four Moldovan citizens, and most of the defendants are defending themselves by remaining silent or denying their participation in the camps.
The Russian Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina recently announced on Facebook that "Western propaganda" is responsible for accusing Moscow.
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