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Transnistrian Conflict on February 9–22, 2004

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A new plan on Transnistria settlement

Upon the request of the Bulgarian chairmanship of the OSCE, the OSCE Mission in Chisinau published on 16 February the Transnistrian settlement plan drafted by the mediators last autumn, which plan was presented to the Moldovan and Transnistrian sides for feedback and comments earlier, according to an agreement reached by the mediators in Sofia last month. The document entitled “Proposals and recommendations of the mediators from the OSCE, the Russian Federation, Ukraine with regards to the Transnistrian settlement” does not determine a definite deadline for the conclusion of negotiations or for the adoption of the federal Constitution. It only makes general references to the structure of the future federal state and of the Parliament and to the method of electing the President. Thus, the reintegrated Republic of Moldova is o be a federal state, with one federal subject — Transnistria. The federal subject may leave the federation should Moldova lose its current status under international law or join another state. The plan provides for a series of political, economic, humanitarian and military guarantees. The latter are to be provided in the form of international peace keeping troops under an OSCE mandate. The plan grants more powers to the federal bodies than the one proposed by the Russian Federation last November, as well as significant leverages over the federal subjects. The Federal Parliament will have two chambers, of which the upper chamber will be elected on the basis of the territorial-administrative principle, and the head of state will be elected either through direct vote or through the vote of the Parliament.

The two sides have already submitted their proposals to the mediators on the plan. These will be discussed on 24 February in Belgrade during a new three sided meeting of the mediators. The date for resuming the negotiations is to be established afterwards.

The withdrawal of Russian weaponry from Transnistria

The Russian Defence Minister Serghei Ivanov told the annual NATO Conference in Munich on 6–7 February that Russia might ask for the re-negotiation of the Istanbul agreements, in particular of the Treaty of Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE). According to Ivanov, the EFE Treaty will loose its capability of maintaining stability and the balance of interests in Europe once new seven states join NATO, some of which do not participative in the CFE. Under these new politico-military conditions, Russia believes it justified to re-negotiate the terms of withdrawal of its troops and weaponry from Georgia and Moldova.

A few days later, the Russian Ambassador to Moldova Iuri Zubakov told a press conference in Chisinau that Russia has fully fulfilled its obligations under the CFE with regards to the Republic of Moldova, and that the Russian military contingent stationed in Transnistria will be evacuated as soon as the necessary conditions are in place. According to Zubakov, the two month pause in the withdrawal process is due to some “complications” related to the failure of the Russian-proposed federalisation plan last November, and to the pending issue of financial compensations demanded from Russia by the Transnistrian authorities.

In reply to the statements of Ambassador Zubakov, the Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a communique in which it said that the issue of the political resolution of the Transnistrian conflict may in no event be synchronised with the evacuation of Russian troops and munitions from the territory of the Republic of Moldova, and urges the Russian Federation to fulfil its Istanbul commitments without further delay. According to the communique, any relationship between the failure to sign the Russian proposal and the pause in the evacuation of Russian munitions “is counterproductive to the resolution of conflict and may only have negative repercussions on the behaviour of the Transnistrian authorities at the negotiations table”.

It appears, however, that the Transnistrian authorities do not share these statements, as they have recently declared that they want Russia to maintain its military presence in the region until the final resolution of the conflict between Chisinau and Tiraspol.

The dispute around the Moldovan police commissariat in Tighina (Bender)

The situation around the Moldovan police commissariat and the penitentiary for TBC infected inmates from Tighina, both institutions administratively subordinated to the Moldovan authorities, has significantly deteriorated during the period covered in this e-journal. The local authorities have for several years demanded that the two institutions be evacuated from the town, and since August 2003 have disconnected them from the town water and energy supply. Since several rounds of negotiations on this issue within the Joint Control Commission have failed, the local authorities have reverted last week a series of actions o forceful evacuation of the Moldovan police from Tighina (Bender). After having dismantled the windows and doors of half of the building, where among other institutions the Moldovan police commissariat is based, they have dismantled the roof over part of the building, including some offices of the commissariat. Although the incident has not resulted in any violent clashes between the workers of the commissariat and the team of repair workers, it has left its mark over the already tensioned relations between Chisinau and Tiraspol. The Moldovan Reintegration Minister Vasile Sova called the actions of the Tighina (Bender) authorities a flagrant violation of the ceasefire agreement of 1992 and a provocation to Chisinau. On the other hand, the OSCE Mission in Moldova has called upon the Transnistrian authorities to refrain from unilateral actions that might destabilise the situation.

January 26 – February 8, 2004 February 23 – March 14, 2004