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Transnistrian Conflict on January 12–25, 2004

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The Transnistrian conflict high on the agenda of the international community

In his opening speech to the OSCE Permanent Council, Solomon Passy, Bulgarian Foreign Minister and Chairman in Office (CiO) of the OSCE, expressed confidence that the mediators and the representatives of the two conflicting sides would continue their efforts within the five-sided negotiations mechanism towards a viable constitutional mechanism that would enjoy the support of the majority of the Moldovan people. Should such a solution be found, the OSCE would be ready to provide adequate international guarantees. At the same time, Passy expressed hope that the Russian Federation would continue the process of unconditional withdrawal of its weaponry from the Transnistrian region in accordance with its earlier international commitments.

As a fist step towards fulfilling its objectives with regard to the unresolved conflict in Transnistria, the Bulgarian CiO will organise on 26–27 January in Sofia a meeting of the mediators to discuss the issue of resuming the work of the five-sided negotiations mechanism, and the contents and periodicity of talks. It is necessary to remind that following the failure by the Moldovan authorities to sign the Russian proposed plan of resolving the Transnistrian conflict in November 2003, the negotiators stopped holding their monthly meetings. In this context, representatives both of the parties to the conflict and the mediators have expressed high expectations with regard to the meeting in Sofia. They nonetheless continue to hold divergent views as to the role of the Russian proposal in the future negotiations process. Thus, it appears that Moldovan has prepared a new draft based on the Russian one, the Transnistrians have put together their own plan, which includes distributing the powers between Moldova and Transnistria on principles of parity, the OSCE has suggested it would propose a plan that had been drafted by the mediators within several rounds of negotiations prior to the Russian proposal, and the Russians said they would insist on adopting their November proposal as the basis for future talks because that was the only document able to forge a consensus between the two parties.

In the meantime, the current stage and future prospects of the Transnistrian conflict resolution process have been tackled at a meeting of the President Vladimir Voronin with the US State Department Special Envoy for Conflicts in Eurasia, Rudolf Perina. It is expected that during the visit of the US State Secretary Colin Powell to Moscow on 26–27 January, the issue of the unresolved conflicts in the former Soviet Union will be raised, in particular with regard to the conflicts in Georgia and Moldova, along with the compliance by the Russian Federation with its international commitments to withdraw its armies from these two states. On the eve of Colin Powell’s meeting with the Russian President Vladimir Putin, the former published on the front page of the Russian daily Izvestia of 26 January 2004 an article in which he mentioned that Russia had a “natural interest” in its neighbours’ affairs but that “we recognise no less the sovereign integrity of Russia’s neighbours and their rights to peaceful and respectful relations across their borders”. The comments were interpreted by many western analysts as a thinly veiled reference to Russia’s manoeuvring in Georgia and its failed attempts to bypass negotiations in Moldova to reach a settlement with breakaway region Transnistria.

As for the issue of the Russian weapons withdrawal from Transnistria, the Russian Ambassador with Special Missions who will represent Russia at the Sofia talks, Aleksandr Novojilov, stated that there are no proofs that the one-month break in the process of withdrawal is due to the obstruction of the process by the Transnistrian authorities. Novojilov did admit, however, that the Transnistrian administration could have caused a break in the process in order to obtain security guarantees in the form of the Russian military presence in the region. Russia would understand such a move, but would still complete the withdrawal of its weaponry from the breakaway region.

Moldovan political detainees in Tiraspol

Andrei Ivantoc, one of the three political detainees of the “Ilascu Group” detained by the Transnistrian authorities for over 12 years, stopped the hunger strike on which he went on 28 December 2003 in protest against the inhumane detention conditions. Ivantoc stopped the strike after he had been seen by a Red Cross doctor.

The OSCE Mission to Moldova showed concern over the detention conditions in which the three Moldovan detainees are held and called upon the Transnistrian authorities to free them as a humanitarian and reconciliation gesture, as well as in response to the decree issued by the Moldovan President last year whereby the combatants who fought in the 1992 war on the side of the Transnistrian paramilitary troops were amnestied.

The European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) and the European Parliament have called upon the Republic of Moldova and Russia to take action to improve the situation of the three political detainees in Tiraspol. These moves were to a great extent the follow up to a series of diplomatic actions by Romania, whose citizens all three detainees are.

At the same time, the Bucharest daily “Ziua” and the Association Civic Media from Romania have launched a campaign to collect signatures in support of freeing the “Ilascu Group” detainees. Apart from a series of outstanding Romanian political and cultural personalities, and a significant number of ordinary Romanian citizens, the campaign was joined by a number of renown associations, such as the Romanian Association of Sociology, the Agency for Press Monitoring, several trade union confederations and a few organizations of the Romanian Diaspora.

December 15, 2003 – January 11, 2004 January 26 – February 8, 2004