Transnistrian Conflict on October 20 – November 2, 2003

The EU encourages Russia to observe its commitments

In the Conclusions of the Brussels European Council of 16–17 October, the EU reiterated its support for the OSCE efforts for a comprehensive political settlement of the Transnistrian issue and urged the Russian Federation to take all the necessary steps to comply with the Istanbul/Porto commitment to withdraw its military patrimony from Transnistria by the end of this year. At the same time, the EU stressed the need for a constructive approach to the Transnistrian issue and urged the Russian Federation and Ukraine to discharge, together with the OSCE, their role as mediators.

Basic political agreement

During a new round of negotiations that took place in Chisinau and Tiraspol on 29–30 October 2003, the representatives of the mediators — Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE, finalised the draft of the basic political agreement on which they had worked during the previous two rounds of talks in Zagreb and Kiev. The mediators agreed to submit the draft to the two sides in conflict at the highest political level: the Moldovan President Voronin and the Transnistrian leader Igor Smirnov.

According to Basa-press, the spokesperson of the OSCE Mission to Moldova Klaus Neukirch told the press that the document would be published after having been submitted to the two sides in conflict first.

Earlier, Iurie Rosca, the leader of the People’s Christian Democratic Party (PCDP), referred to the draft as a secret plan of undermining and destroying the constitutional regime of the Republic of Moldova plotted by forces that are hostile to the independence and sovereignty of the state. Rosca made these statements following a meeting with the Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova William Hill, during which he was denied access to the said draft.

At a press conference held on 30 October in Chisinau, William Hill declared that the draft was elaborated upon the request of the Moldovan and Transnistrian negotiators and contained a series of compromise proposals regarding the organisation of the future federal state, the delimitation of competencies and the system of guarantees of the future Moldovan federation. According to Hill, the draft is different from the Kiev proposal in that it details a number of issues contained in the latter and builds upon the experience of the mediators over the past year and a half since the federalisation initiative has been launched.

The Joint Control Commission and the Joint Constitutional Commission

The members of the Joint Control Commission met in Bender (Tighina) to discuss the request of the Bender (Tighina) town administration to evacuate the Moldovan police unit based there and the issue of the transparency of the security zone along the banks of river Nistru. While a compromise solution was not reached on either of these two issues, the members of the Commissions decided to delay discussions for the next meeting due to their divergent views and the tensioned atmosphere.

Neither the members of the Joint Constitutional Commission, which resumed activity after several weeks break, managed to reach a compromise position on any article of Title 1 of the future federal Constitution, which is to refer to the constitutional foundations of the would be Moldovan federation. The debates on the most litigious aspects — the structure of state bodies, the division of competencies, the official languages and even the name of the federation will be resumed at the next meeting.

Withdrawal of Russian military equipment

The Russian Federation resumed the process of withdrawing its military patrimony from the Transnistrian region after the Russian Government granted Moldova a non-reimbursable grant worth US$ 105 million, of which US$ 100 million would be used to pay off the debts of Moldova Gaz towards the Russian Company Gazprom for the gas supplied to the Transnistrian region, and thus met the pre-condition of the Transnistrians for unblocking the process of the Russian military equipment from the region. According to the Decision of the Russian Government, the funds will be allotted in several instalments during 2003 — 2004 proportionally with the terms of evacuation of the Russian military equipment from Transnistria. At the same time, the Moldovan side was called upon to ensure all the necessary conditions for complete evacuation by 31 December 2003.

The Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova William Hill told a press conference that even if the Russians keep transporting their military patrimony in a sustained rhythm and according to a tight schedule, they would need at least five months to complete the process, which could be in the first half of 2004.

Earlier, a number of Moldovan opposition parties had organised a series of actions of protest against the failure of the Russian Federation to abide by the deadline for the withdrawal of its military equipment. Thus, the PCDP proposed to the Moldovan Parliament to adopt a decision whereby to request from the Russian Federation the unconditional withdrawal of its army from the eastern region of Moldova. The proposal was rejected by the communist parliamentary majority on grounds that it would destabilise the situation and tension the bilateral relations between Moldova and the Russian Federation. The PCDP reiterated its position of protest within a street meeting on 26 October in Chisinau, while the Social Liberal Party issued on the same day a statement expressing concern in relation to the delay in the withdrawal of the Russian military equipment from Transnistria and bewilderment at the lack of an appropriate reaction from the Moldovan authorities.

“The telephone war”

The employer organisations in the telecommunications field requested an extraordinary meeting of the Executive Board of the National Agency for Regulations in Telecommunications to examine and solve the telephone crisis between the two sides of river Nistru. Since early September the fixed and mobile telephone connections between the two sides have been blocked and the Transnistrians constantly jam the Moldovan mobile networks.

Meanwhile, starting 1 November 2003, the Republic of Moldova introduced a new telephone numbering scheme, within which three million telephone numbers are to be allocated to the Transnistrian region both for fixed and mobile telephony, provided that the Transnistrian operators register with the Moldovan State Registration Chamber and are issued corresponding licences. The Transnistrians said they would not apply the Moldovan telephone numbering scheme because they found it discriminatory towards the Transnistrian telecommunications networks. Instead, they would apply their own scheme starting 7 November 2003. The International Telecommunications Union published in its operational bulleting on 1 November 2003 a note warning international telecommunication agencies about the illegal and non-recognised nature of the Transnistrian scheme.

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