PARIS (Reuters) – Three Moldovan nationals have been arrested in Moldova for links to the Russian Wagner Group, pan-European police agency Europol said on Friday.
Moldavan authorities on February 12 and 13 raided over 50 locations connected to suspected members of the paramilitary group associated with war crimes against Ukrainians, Europol said in a statement.
It added that an operation by the Moldavan and Ukrainian national authorities, supported by Europol, targeted individuals suspected of having taken part in the Russian war against Ukraine as mercenaries for the Wagner Group.
The investigation has so far identified 85 individuals linked to that war, Europol said, adding that materials seized during the raids attest to the recruitment and conditions of service within the Wagner Group and illustrate the involvement of the suspects in military actions in Ukraine.
Europol said it had supported the investigation by facilitating information exchanges and had established a virtual command point to streamline communication between involved authorities.
Earlier on Friday, Polish authorities said two Russian citizens were jailed for 5-1/2 years in Poland for membership of the Wagner Group militia and conducting espionage for Moscow. They had been arrested in August 2023.
(Reporting by Geert De Clercq; editing by Barbara Lewis)
