Moldova Sends Ukraine Protest Note Over Border Guards' Dniester Crossing

Moldova has sent Ukraine a protest note after two Ukrainian border guards crossed the border while pursuing a man on the Dniester River, Lilian Carp, chair of the Moldovan parliament's national security committee, said on Monday, Oct. 19. He was quoted by Newsmaker, Ukraine's European Pravda reported.

Carp noted that since Russia's invasion of Ukraine there had been several cases of Ukrainian citizens illegally crossing into Moldova. That, he stressed, does not justify the guards' actions. "We see an attempt by Ukrainian border guards who, unfortunately, allowed themselves to cross the state border line, which is a gross violation," he said. Protest notes were sent to the Ukrainian embassy and other Ukrainian authorities over the illegal crossing.

He added that nothing justifies the guards' conduct, even if an illegal border crossing was involved. "What the Ukrainian border guards did does not meet any ethical norms and cannot be considered normal," he said.

What happened

On Oct. 17 Moldova reported detaining two Ukrainian border guards who had illegally crossed the border while trying to catch a Ukrainian fugitive. The next day Ukraine's State Border Guard Service said the two had been returned to Ukraine. We covered the first reports in our account of the border incident and the release in Moldova Returns Ukrainian Border Guards Held After Dniester Incident.