The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) has reported that Moldavian territory is being used with the consent of local authorities by Ukrainian intelligence services to recruit agents and prepare them for their deployment to Russia, where they are to carry out acts of sabotage and terrorist attacks. This news comes in the wake of several recent cases of attempted or successful attacks whose trail leads back to Moldova and Kiev.
One of the most recent cases is Marius Prunianu, a citizen of Moldova, born in 2001, who was arrested by the FSB on April 14, 2025. According to the FSB, Prunianu was on a mission for the Ukrainian Security Service (GUR) to Russia to organize acts of sabotage and terrorism.
Prunianu is reported to have fought in the ranks of the Center for Special Operations of Ukraine (Unit A1737) and the so-called International Legion (Unit 3449) against Russia’s military near Artiomovsk in the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk in the years 2022 and 2023. In 2023, Prunianu was reportedly recruited by the GUR (Main Intelligence Agency of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense) and smuggled into Moldova, where he was trained for attacks.
In the capital of Moldova, Prunianu was reportedly handed money with which he purchased a Toyota Landcruiser Prado. In this vehicle, GUR operatives reportedly installed a secret compartment containing three explosive devices with 1.6 kilograms of C4 explosive each. Prunianu is said to have traveled to Russia via a complex route through Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia from Moldova. Allegedly, the terrorist was supposed to plant the explosive devices in hiding spots in the cities of Volgograd and Saratov. Additionally, he was reportedly tasked with committing an assassination using a pistol on a person he was not familiar with.
The FSB report states that this is not the first time that Moldova’s territory has been used with the consent of local authorities by Ukrainian intelligence services to recruit and train agents and supply them with weapons to be brought into Russian territory to carry out acts of sabotage and terrorism.
Indeed, Prunianu’s case is not the only one in recent times. On the same day, April 14, 2025, the FSB announced the arrest of another Moldovan citizen named Evgeny Kurdoglu. According to the FSB, Kurdoglu spied on the movements of military equipment in Russia and over the Crimea bridge, scouted the positions of Russia’s air defense and infrastructure objects on the Crimean peninsula and acted as a forward observer for objective impact control during attacks by the Ukrainian military. Additionally, Kurdoglu was reportedly tasked with blowing up a water pumping station.
Video footage from Kurdoglu’s interrogation has been circulating in the Russian internet segment. According to the footage, Kurdoglu was reportedly given the contact information of a man named “Alexander” by a Spanish citizen he had served a prison sentence with, who offered him the Ukrainian citizenship and financial benefits. The FSB reportedly took care of Kurdoglu until his arrest. Kurdoglu was reportedly arrested immediately upon arrival in Simferopol, where he was supposed to scout railway tracks and concentrations of Russian military equipment.
These cases, however, are not exhaustive of this trend. On the same day, April 14, 2025, two Russian citizens were arrested in the Samara region for participating in acts of sabotage in Russia on behalf of Kiev and for being recruited and trained in Moldova. One of them, S. A. Okruschko, born in 1981, was reportedly promised Ukrainian citizenship and financial benefits during his stay in Moldova. The other, I. O. Ismailova, born in 1989, was reportedly forced to cooperate through threats of violence against her relatives living in the former Ukrainian SSR. Okruschko carried out an explosive attack against the Kubyshev oil refinery’s power plant, while Ismailova was preparing explosive attacks against objects of the Russian arms industry.