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Chisinau released Russian national, ex-deputy intel chief as part of 5-for-5 swap

Maia Sandu thanked the Polish, Romanian, and US authorities for their assistance

CHISINAU, April 28. /TASS/. Moldova exchanged Russian national Nina Popova and former deputy chief of Moldova’s Intelligence and Security Service Alexandru Balan, who was convicted of high treason, for two Moldovan officers who were arrested in Moscow, the country’s President Maia Sandu said.

"Two Moldovan citizens who were being held in Russia have been released and returned home. Both of them, employees of the Intelligence and Security Service, have been released and returned to our authorities as part of an international exchange of detainees," Sandu wrote on her Facebook page (Facebook is banned in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which has been designated as extremist).

According to her, they were "exchanged for two individuals: Russian citizen Nina Popova and Alexandru Balan, a Moldovan citizen who is accused of high treason in the interests of the Belarusian KGB (State Security Committee - TASS."

She also thanked the Polish, Romanian, and US authorities for their assistance.

Balan, a Moldovan and Romanian citizen and a deputy chief of Moldova’s Intelligence and Security Service in 2016-2019, was arrested in Bucharest at Moldova’s request and later sentenced to 1.5 years in prison on charges for spying for Belarusian intel services. According to Romanian investigators, in 2024-2025, Balan met with foreign spies in Budapest and received money in exchange for secret information. The man pleaded guilty and asked to consider his case under a simplified procedure.

Following Balan’s arrest, Moldovan media said, citing sources in the foreign ministry, that an employee of the Belarusian embassy in Moldova had been declared persona non grata.

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