Journalist Ernest Vardanyan confessed engagement in espionage

PanARMENIAN.Net - Transdniestrian journalist Ernest Vardanyan of Armenian descent, who was arrested on April 7, admitted in a video address broadcast by the Transdniestrian television that the Moldovan Information and Security Service (ISS) recruited him as a spy.

Vardanyan said that he started cooperating with the Moldovan ISS in 2001, while he was a student of Chisinau University.

According to him, ISS representatives hinted that his refusal may effect Vardanyan’s and his wife’s further education.

Vardanyan added that he gave a written consent to cooperation with the ISS also after completion of his education, working as a journalist in Transdniestria and collecting information on the domestic situation of the republic, including through his meetings with officials.

He said he became a successful candidate for employment in the UN secretariat in 2009. Thus, he was going to terminate his cooperation with the Moldovan ISS.

However, in his recorded address, Vardanyan claimed that he was pressured by the Moldovan operatives to work for them and against Russian interests at the UN. “My activity's revelation was predetermined basically due to irresponsible actions of the ISS,” the journalist said.

Vardanyan added that he is a victim of circumstances and not Transdniestria’s enemy.

Employee of the Transdniestrian Office of Prosecutor Stanislav Chernetsky said that a criminal case is initiated against Vardanyan under Article 271 (high treason) of the Criminal Code of the Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic that foresees up to 20 years of imprisonment, RIA Novosti reported.