CHISINAU, July 24. /TASS/. Transnistria’s state security ministry said on Monday that Ukrainian special services are seeking to recruit Transnistrian residents to collect information about Russian forces deployed in the unrecognized republic.

"As a rule, foreign intelligence services are interested in information of the military and political nature. The major recruiting resource is Transnistrian citizens who periodically cross the border [with Ukraine] in transport and people of the Ukrainian origin or whose relatives live in Ukraine. Various recruiting methods are used: from asking to bring something or make photos or videos to thinly veiled threats and blackmailing," a ministry spokesman said in an interview with the First Transnistrian television channel.

Thus, a man, who was subject a recruiting attempt, told the television channel that Ukrainian special services "ask to collect information about Russian servicemen, their families, they want to know if there are panicky moods among people and about support for Moldova and Transnistria." If such requests are not implemented, people are warned that their relatives would be banned to leave Transnistria, he said, adding that he has informed Transnistria’s law enforcement agencies that Ukraine’s special services furnished him with equipment to make photos and videos of the places of the deployment of army units.

Russian peacekeepers were deployed to the zone of combat operations in Transnistria in late July of 1992 under an agreement on peaceful settlement of the armed conflict in Moldova’s Transnistrian region. The move helped stop the confrontation between the Moldovan police and Transnistrian militias. Currently, peace in the region is being maintained by Russian, Moldovan, and Transnistrian peacekeepers, and a team of Ukrainian military observers.

Apart from that, the Russian military is tasked to ensure the security of depots in Cobasna that hold more than 20,000 tons of munitions that were put in storage there after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from European countries. These troops are also supporting the peacekeepers who have found themselves literally under blockade after Ukraine blocked logistics routes through its territory.