A strange incident happened on January 10 near Transnistria’s border with Ukraine. Kyiv claims that two citizens of Transnistria crossed the border and opened fire, and Tiraspol claims that they were kidnapped by Ukrainians. It is reported that one of the men died, the other was injured. Chisinau declares that it is ready to provide support to both the authorities of Kyiv and Tiraspol in the investigation of the case, reports News.ro with reference to the Moldovan press.

The fact that the incident ended in death became known much later than the facts occurred.

Initially, on January 10, Tirasplul stated that there was an incident with the use of firearms near the border with Ukraine, as a result of which two citizens of Transnistria were kidnapped and taken to the territory of Ukraine.

A day later, Ukraine denied Tiraspol’s statements. The press officer of the State Border Service of Ukraine, Andriy Demtsenko, said in a comment to RBC-Ukraine that he is not aware of any incident on the Transnistrian section of the border with the Republic of Moldova, and called the statements from Tiraspol “incidents”. “of a complex nature”.

When contacted then for a reaction, even the Department of Reintegration Policy from Chisinau did not confirm the incident, writes the news portal NewsMaker.md.

However, in early February, the ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Moldova, Marko Shevchenko, confirmed the armed incident in an interview. The diplomat said that two citizens of Transnistria illegally crossed the border with the neighboring state. Moreover, according to the ambassador, they would have opened fire on Ukrainian law enforcement officers, who, in turn, responded with shots. As a result, one resident of the left bank of the Dniester died, another was hospitalized, the diplomat said.

“At the beginning of January, there was an incident when two residents of Transnistria, one “border guard” of the “MDB” (an unrecognized institution from Tiraspol, responsible for security – no), the other said he was a civilian, but I assume that he was not a civilian , but only dressed in civilian clothes, they crossed the Ukrainian border to discuss something with the Ukrainian border guard. Ukrainian law enforcement officers were waiting for them, as two Transnistrians, according to all reports, were involved in illegal trade,” Ukrainian Ambassador to Chisinau Marko Shevchenko said in an interview. The ambassador claimed that at that moment one of the citizens of Transnistria “took a gun and started shooting at Ukrainian law enforcement officers.”

“They (Ukrainian border guards – no) opened fire in return. One of the Transnistrians died, another was wounded and is now in the hospital,” said Marko Shevchenko.

The diplomat refused to comment on Tiraspol’s position, but wanted to remind that Ukraine considers Transnistria a “potential threat” to its national security due to the Russian military, which has been illegally stationed in the region for more than 30 years.

Chisinau authorities: “Jurisdiction is Ukrainian”

The spokeswoman of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Chisinau, Olivia Melnyk, informed the NewsMaker.md portal that Ukraine is investigating an armed incident on the border with the Transnistrian region. According to the spokeswoman, Kishinev is ready to support both the authorities of Kyiv and Tiraspol in the investigation of the case.

“As the Ambassador of Ukraine in Chisinau stated, the incident took place on the territory of Ukraine, therefore the investigation of this case falls within the jurisdiction of Ukraine. If this version is not shared by the illegal authorities on the left bank of the Dniester, the National Police is ready to go to the crime scene declared by Tiraspol to ensure an investigation. At the same time, we will provide support to the Ukrainians in clarifying all the circumstances, if they ask us,” said Olivia Melnyk for NewsMaker.md.

However, the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not answer questions about the reasons why the authorities did not publicly announce that a man died during the incident, the Chisinau publication notes.