Romania's Foreign Ministry says two Romanian journalists were briefly detained by security forces of the breakaway region of Transdniester, a sliver of land inside Moldova held by Kremlin-backed separatists.
The ministry said in a statement on May 11 that the two journalists, went missing the day before while working, sparking an intense search that ultimately led to locating them and subsequent diplomatic negotiations -- involving governments from both countries, as well as the Moldovan mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe -- to gain their freedom.
"The two were escorted, under safe conditions, to the [Moldovan] capital, Chisinau, where they are safe and will return to Romania in the coming period," the ministry said.
"[The] Romanian diplomatic mission in Chisinau was not informed in advance about the intention of the two journalists," it said, adding that the "so-called Transdniestrian authorities" recently banned foreign journalists from entering the region.
Transdniester, which lies strategically between Moldova proper and Ukraine, declared independence from Chisinau in 1990 and the two sides fought a brief war in 1992 that was quelled by Russian troops intervening on the side of separatists.
Fears of a spillover from the Ukraine conflict have expanded since a Russian general said last month that the aim of Moscow's unprovoked invasion launched in February was to create a land corridor through southern Ukrainian to Transdniester.
Russia still maintains some 1,500 soldiers in Transdniester, who are said to be guarding a huge Soviet-era arms depot.
Besides the troops ostensibly guarding the depot, Russia has another 400-500 soldiers in Transdniester that have been labeled as peacekeepers since the end of the 1992 war.
A series of alleged attacks have been reported in Transdniester in recent weeks, prompting Ukraine to say Russia wants to destabilize the region to create a pretext for a military intervention. Moscow denies the allegations.
