Andrzej Poczobut free. The Moldavian Institute of National Remembrance sheds new light on the release

The former deputy head of Moldovan intelligence services, Alexandru Balan, convicted of revealing state secrets, was pardoned in his country and included in the prisoner exchange in which Moldova, Russia, the USA, Poland, Belarus and Romania participated – the Moldovan IPN agency reported on Tuesday, citing its own sources.

According to information from the Institute of National Remembrance, which has not yet been officially commented on, Balan was exchanged for Andrzej Poczobut (wrongly called a “Polish citizen” in the IPN text), as well as for one of two employees of the Moldovan special services detained in Russia in 2025. The second employee, according to the agency's sources, was exchanged for the wife of a GRU (Russian military intelligence) agent who was held in prison in Chisinau.

This is the former deputy head of the Moldovan Intelligence and Security Service (SIS), prosecuted by Moldova and Romania (he has citizenship of both countries) for transmitting state secrets to third countries.

Alexandru Balan detained in Romania and sentenced in Moldova

The media previously reported that Alexandru Balan was detained in September 2025 in Timisoara, Romania, at the airport as part of a wider operation under the aegis of Eurojust (the EU's judicial cooperation agency in criminal matters). In April, he was sentenced in absentia in Moldova in a one-day fast-track trial (for which he had requested) to 1.5 years in prison after pleading guilty. He was then extradited to the country from Romania.

According to the Institute of National Remembrance, the extradition took place at the request of the Ministry of Justice of Moldova and on the basis of the conviction of a Moldovan court on April 15. The authorities in Chisinau did not intend to implement the sentence; Balan was pardoned by President Maia Sandu and then stripped of his Moldovan citizenship in order to be handed over to Russia.

Balan's exact location is currently unknown. From prison No. 13 in Chisinau, he was to be transported through Chisinau airport to Poland, and from there to Moscow.

A Moldovan court convicted him of trying to reveal a state secret. In Romania, he was subject to treason proceedings. According to investigators, Balan is accused of passing information to agents of the Belarusian KGB.

The release of Andrzej Poczobut. Donald Tusk about many years of efforts

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the release from a Belarusian prison of Andrzej Poczobut, a journalist and activist of the Polish minority in Belarus, an ethnic Pole with Belarusian citizenship. Efforts to free him have been going on for years. Poczobut was imprisoned in March 2021 and considered a political prisoner.

“The exchange (of prisoners – PAP) on the Polish-Belarusian border is the finale of a complicated diplomatic game lasting two years,” Tusk emphasized on X, referring to Poczobut's release. He added that it was possible thanks to the work of the services, diplomats and the prosecutor's office, as well as “the enormous help of American, Romanian and Moldovan friends.”