VIDEO // President about SIS officers swap operation: Emotions, tension and successful mission with international support

There were moments of maximum tension during the swap operation involving two officers of the Intelligence and Security Service of the Republic of Moldova, with emotions and risks behind the mission. This is how President Maia Sandu described the SIS officers’ exchange operation.

"It was a great stress, because it was about the lives of innocent people," the head of state said, describing the pressure during the operation.

The President added that the moment she learned that the citizens of the Republic of Moldova had reached safety was one of deep relief: "And of course I breathed a sigh of relief when I received the information that our citizens had entered the territory of Poland."

The President welcomed the success of the mission, highlighting its complexity and the international cooperation involved: "I am glad that this operation succeeded. It was a complicated operation. We had the support of institutions from the United States, Romania, Poland."

"A lot of work was done, there were many risks. And I repeat, I am glad that in the end we managed to carry out this exchange and these two citizens of the Republic of Moldova, people of good faith, loyal to our state, are safely at home," Maia Sandu said.

Referring to the debates that later appeared in the public space, the head of state rejected the criticism regarding the decision to proceed with the swap, stating that the person involved had not had access to sensitive information for many years: "From 2019 to 2023 he did not have access to confidential information, he did not have access to operations."

The President also underlined the efforts to reform the security institutions: "A lot of work has been done so that the state institutions and the Intelligence and Security Service can be cleansed of people who are not loyal to the state of the Republic of Moldova."

At the same time, Maia Sandu highlighted the growing resilience of the state: "The Republic of Moldova has become more resilient, including thanks to the Intelligence and Security Service."

On 28 April 2026, a multilateral prisoner swap took place at Pererov–Beloveja crossing point located on the border between Belarus and Poland. This operation brought together the efforts of Poland and the Republic of Moldova alongside the Russian Federation and Belarus, using a five-for-five exchange formula for a total of 10 people.

Moldova succeeded in recovering two intelligence officers who had been deprived of their liberty by the Federal Security Service of Russia in Moscow since the spring of 2025. Although the Russian authorities had previously claimed that the two were involved in missions against Russia’s security, the institutions in Chisinau firmly rejected these accusations, describing them as speculative and unfounded actions.

To ensure the return of the two officers, the Republic of Moldova complied with Moscow’s request to hand over Nina Popova and Alexandru Balan, the former deputy head of the Intelligence and Security Service. Balan’s legal trajectory was marked by his arrest in Romania in the autumn of 2025 on charges of treason in favor of the Belarusian secret services, followed by a conviction in the Republic of Moldova to one year and six months in prison.

After he was extradited from Romania on 24 April, President Maia Sandu signed the pardon decree on the very day of the international exchange, in order to allow his departure to Belarus. Once he arrived at his destination, the former official was presented by the Belarusian media as an intelligence agent who had fulfilled his duty to the homeland, being greeted with honors and gifts from leader Alexander Lukashenko.