CHISINAU, March 15. /TASS/. Transnistria won’t give up the suspected plotters of a foiled attack on an OSCE delegation in Tiraspol, Vitaly Ignatyev, the foreign minister of the breakaway republic, said on TSV television on Wednesday.
"The investigation will be in line with the law and on the territory of Transnistria, in full compliance with the current norms. We will not extradite anyone anywhere. Moreover, the investigation has questions and work is underway to establish the circumstances of the delivery of explosives across the territory of Moldova," Ignatiev said.
He said Tiraspol is open to constructive cooperation and is briefing the interested parties about the progress of the investigation. On Tuesday, the Reintegration Bureau of the Moldovan government said that it had asked the leadership of Transnistria to transfer the detainees for an investigation in Chisinau.
Earlier, the State Security Ministry of Transnistria said a terrorist attack that sought to target certain officials had been prevented. On Tuesday, the prosecutor presented evidence showing that the attackers had initially targeted an OSCE delegation that visited Tiraspol on February 14. It included the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, the Foreign Minister of North Macedonia Bujar Osmani; Ambassador Thomas Mayr-Harting, OSCE Special Representative for the Transnistrian Settlement Process; the Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, Ambassador Kelly Keiderling and others. When the terrorist attack did not pan out, Transnistrian President Vadim Krasnoselsky was selected as a replacement target.
The organizers plotted to detonate a car bomb in the center of Tiraspol. The explosive device contained eight kilograms of hexogen and steel scraps. Two suspects have been detained, news reports said, and one of them has already testified. The Transnistrian president said that the sabotage attack had been authorized and plotted by the Security Service of Ukraine.