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The evacuation of the Russian military patrimony from the Transdnistrian region

After the Russian Federation resumed the withdrawal of its military patrimony from the Transdnistrian region two weeks ago, a second train composed of 20 wagons loaded with around 300 tons of Russian weaponry was sent to Russia on 6 November. According to some sources from the Operational Group of Russian Troops, quoted by Basa-press, this will be the last transportation of Russian weaponry from Transdnistria this year.

Earlier, the Deputy Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Veaceslav Trubnikov visiting Chisinau on the occasion of the meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe here, said that the Russian Federation would not manage to withdraw its weaponry from Transdnistria until the end of 2003, according to its Porto commitments, due to reasons that are beyond it, such as the obstruction of the process of withdrawal by the Transdnistrian authorities. At the same time, the Russian dignitary stated that Moscow would be against setting up a new deadline for the withdrawal, since this could serve certain interested forces as a means to put pressure on Russia in order to prevent it from observing the new deadline.

The Joint Control Commission

The ordinary meeting of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) was suspended on 4 November after the representatives of Transdnistria on the JCC left the meeting room as a sign of protest against the introduction by the Chisinau authorities of special police troops in the security zone controlled by the JCC. The special police was introduced by the Moldovan authorities to set up checkpoints at the western administrative border of Transdnistria in order to counteract smuggling activities.

The protests by the opposition in front of the Russian Embassy

The Russian Foreign Ministry released on 4 November a statement in which it called upon the Moldovan authorities to stop the “anti-Russian hysteria” and prevent further “illegal actions organised by aggressive politicians of radical-nationalistic orientation”. The statement referred to the protests organised by the People’s Christian Democratic Party (PCDP) and a group of Moldovan journalists for the second month in front of the Russian Embassy in Chisinau. The protesters demand that the Russian troops and military patrimony is unconditionally withdrawn from Transdnistria by the end of 2003, in accordance with the commitments assumed by Russia at the OSCE Ministerial Council in Porto last year.

Soon after the statement was released, the Moldovan Justice Minister Vasile Dolghieru asked the PCDP to stop immediately the protest actions, which, according to the Minister Dolghieru, would run counter to the constitutional provisions whereby the freedom of expression should not infringe upon other individuals’ dignity. Furthermore, Dolghieru, quoted by Basa-press, said that the PCDP’s actions take place “under slogans that harm both the dignity and honour of the Russian people and the dignity and honour of the current Moldovan Government”.

Soon afterwards, the Moldovan bodies of interior initiated administrative case files for the leaders of the PCDP, who the Chisinau police accused of having organised an unauthorised street event.

The PCDP rejected both the accusations of the Justice Minister and those of the Chisinau police repeatedly, including in a statement made public during the plenary meeting of the Parliament, in which they said that the Moldovan authorities had threatened directly the PCDP by taking over unfounded accusations and having launched a new procedure of suspending the parliamentary immunity of several PCDP deputies.

The OSCE Chairman in Office talks to the Moldovan civil society

The Dutch Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, current Chairman in Office of the OSCE and future Secretary General of NATO, on a visit to Chisinau on the occasion of the meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, met with representatives of the Moldovan civil society to discuss their views on the issue of solving the Transdnistrian conflict through the federalisation of Moldova. This initiative has been to date commented negatively by a major part of the Moldovan civil society and political class. De Hoop Scheffer called the accusations brought to the OSCE and the OSCE Mission to Moldova as “nonsensical” and reassured the participants in the meeting that the OSCE will do its best to keep unbiased and to talk on equal footing with all the parties interested in the resolution of the Transdnistrian conflict.

A comment made by the Chisinau newspaper Moldavschie Vedomosti on 8 November regarding this meeting mentioned that the involvement of the civil society in the debates on the federalisation initiative is premature as long as there is no debate on the issue between the two top leaders in Moldova and Transdnistria. Under these circumstances, the protests of the civil society on both banks of Nistru River against federalisation might serve the two leaders as yet another pretext to postpone the political resolution of the conflict.

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