Foreign ministry handed a protest note to Russian ambassador Oleg Vasneţov about the situation of Moldovan citizens released from captivity in Afghanistan but held as electoral hostages in Moscow.

Chisinau asks Russia to immediately secure access for Moldovan delegation to citizens captured for three and half years in Afghanistan. The Russian Ambassador was convened today at the Foreign Ministry.

The institution expects an official reply from Russian diplomacy and hopes it will be presented shortly.

The Russian Ambassador refused to talk with journalists and tell them why the Moldovan delegation can not meet with the citizens.

Our delegation, made up of the secretary general of the Foreign Ministry and chief doctor of the State Chancellery Hospital, left yesterday to Moscow to bring home the two Moldovans - former hostages. 

For now, however, the delegation has no access to them and has not been informed by the Russian authorities where they are.

We remind that Chisinau officials who went to Moscow determined that the ex-hostages are not in custody of the Russian authorities, but a non-governmental organization it remains unclear where they are. 

Andrian Candu said that the NGO would belong to Igor Ceaika, the son of the General Prosecutor of Russia. He is the co-chair of the Delovaia Rossia Association, a cover for projects promoted by the Kremlin to support Igor Dodon. Ceaika also was in Tiraspol to discuss his projects with separatist leader Vadim Krasnoselski.

Earlier, the Prosecutor General's Office confirmed that some people deliberately blocked the release of Lionel Buruiana and Mihai Crihana.

The two Moldavians were taken captive by the Taliban in November 2015, after their helicopter was shot down in an Afghan province.