Two Moldovan pilot hostages freed from Afghanistan: Govt

Moldova's President Igor Dodon on Monday announced that two Moldovan pilots taken hostage by the Taliban in 2015 have been freed and flown out of Afghanistan for treatment.

Helicopter crew members Ion Buruiana and Mihail Crihan were freed from captivity on Saturday and flown to a Moscow hospital, Dodon told a briefing.

"Their condition is fairly good," he said. "It was a secret operation, nobody knew about it, including their relatives."
He said that freeing the pilots was only possible "with the help of Russian leadership."
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed that Moscow "took active measures to free the Moldovan pilots over the course of several years."