Those who fled abroad through Odesa region were interrogated by Transnistrian security forces

Organizers of schemes to smuggle men of military age across the border into the occupied territory of Moldovan Transnistria not only help evade mobilization, but also hand over Ukrainians to the Russian-controlled special service "PMR".

As Slidstvo.info journalists learned while working on the investigation, most organizers of male trafficking schemes ask clients to come to Odesa, from where the drivers involved transport them to the border with the occupied part of Moldova.

Border guards admit that this section attracts violators because it is much less controlled than other sections of the border with Moldova, as Transnistrians are much less vigilant on their side than Ukrainians and official Moldovan border guards.

The journalists claim that the carriers cooperate with the so-called Ministry of State Security, whose employees ask fugitives for information about the Ukrainian army, the location of military facilities and air defense systems. This information can be used by the Russian FSB against Ukraine. Since 2017, the MGB has been headed by a former federal security officer, Valery Gebos.

<span class="ratio ratio-16x9"></span>

The journalist, pretending to be a woman who wants to take her husband out of Ukraine, talked <b>to </b>fifteen fugitives. It turned out that those who fled on their own were able to take a taxi to Chisinau without any problems. And those who used the services of carriers for money were interrogated by the so-called Ministry of State Security of the "TMR".

The journalist also found a man who crossed the border on his own in the area with the so-called "PMR" - without the services of paid carriers. However, on the advice of others, he surrendered to local border guards, who took him first to the police and then for interrogation.

"I was interrogated harshly. And, most likely, they were FSB officers. The one who interrogated me was very similar. They asked me about military equipment. They humiliated me... They could handcuff me, throw me into the basement if they suspected I was lying or something else," the man said.

All the men were interrogated according to a standardized scheme: first, they surrendered to the border guards or went straight to the police department. There, they were kept in a cell until it was their turn to go for interrogation with the so-called MGB investigators. Several men left through Rybnitsa, a Transnistrian town close to the Ukrainian border.

Кирило Бойко