Transnistrian Conflict on July 26 – August 29, 2004

The unresolved issue of Moldovan Latin script schools from the Transnistrian region in due time determined the Moldovan authorities to introduce on 1 August the following measures against the Transnistrian economic agents who do not fulfil their fiscal obligations towards the Moldovan state budget: suspension of the issue of customs papers, denial of transportation services to Transnistrian companies, and suspension of all regulations on the activity of Transnistrian companies.

According to a number of statements by Moldovan officials, these measures are not economic sanctions but rather aim to legalise the Transnistrian economy and level down the conditions of activity of the economic agents from the two sides of Nistru River. Both the Transnistrian side and the Russian Federation though called the measures “total economic blockade” against the “people of Transnistria”.

In reaction to these measures, the Transnistrian administration blocked on 2 August the railways connecting Chisinau with the southern part of Moldova and with Russia and took over by force the administration of the offices of the Moldovan railways situated in the region. In addition, the Transnistrian power plant in Cuciurgan, which provides 70% of electricity for the central and southern parts of Moldova, cut off supply to the distributor Union Fenosa.

Several days after the measures imposed by the Moldovan Government entered into force, Ukraine expressed concern with the limitation of railway traffic across the customs points at the Transnistrian sector of its border with Moldova. Reportedly, the Ukrainian customs authorities have been allowing trains to enter Transnistria from its territory in disrespect of the measures imposed by Moldova. This determined the Moldovan authorities to stop from 20 August all export-import operations over the Transnistrian segment of its border and to threaten that from September it would also stop the circulation of transit and passenger trains. Earlier, the Moldovan Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev sent his Ukrainian counterpart a letter whereby he explained the reasons behind the measures imposed by the Moldovan Government and urged Ukraine to abide by the customs agreements between the two states and the regime of state frontier.

The ever more alarming situation from the east of the republic was the motive for the visit on 9–12 August to Chisinau, Tiraspol and Kiev of an European Union delegation headed by Robert Cooper, Director General of the Department for External and Politico-Military Relations of the European Council. During the same days, Chisinau and Tiraspol was visited by a special envoy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Igor Savolski. Both the EU delegation and the Russian envoy called upon the two parties to resume negotiations in the five-sided format and to solve the schools issue through talks.

Despite the “good will” and the openness for dialogue of the Transnistrian authorities noted by the members of the EU delegation, a few days after these left the Transnistrians toughened their actions against the orphanage in Tighina (Bender), where for several weeks children and teachers blocked themselves inside to prevent the school from being taken by force by the Transnistrian militia. Following a number of altercations between the militia and the representatives of the OSCE Mission to Moldova who were trying to get food and water to those inside the school, the Transnistrian administration on 17 August denied to the OSCE access into the region, accusing it of deliberately trying to destabilise the situation and of interfering in the internal affairs of the “state of accreditation”.

In parallel with the campaign against the schools, armed Transnistrian militia blocked the roads that connect the villages Pohrebea and Cosnita — both villages are situated on the left side of Nistru but are under the jurisdiction of Chisinau — to the agricultural fields belonging to the farmers of these two villages across the Camenca-Tiraspol motorway on ground that these do not have lease contracts with the Transnistrian authorities. After a brief intervention by the peacekeeping forces, and despite a JCC decision, the Transnistrians installed a permanent check point at the exit from Pohrebea village.

On the background of this chain of actions of mutual sabotage and threatening, President Voronin told a Cabinet meeting convoked upon his return from holiday that the Chisinau authorities would treat the Transnistrian administration as a “totalitarian regime of fascist nature” and that the negotiations with Tiraspol “will be resumed only when the Transnistrian region democratises and the Transnistrian population is liberated from the junta who has usurped the right to talk on behalf of an entire region”. President Voronin also criticised the mediators who, according to him, have become some “advocates of the Transnistrian regime” and accused the Ukrainian customs of sabotaging the custom agreements with Moldova.

Local commentators have saluted the categorical tone of President Voronin and his criticism of the mediators, who are perceived by an important part of the Moldovan public opinion as biased and hence unhelpful in resolving the Transnistrian problem. This has been the first time too when the President characterised in such tough terms a factual state that has become so much evident in light of the latest event i.e. the inefficiency of the mechanisms of conflict resolution instituted after the 1992 ceasefire. Thus, the five-sided negotiations format has proved totally inefficient in helping parties overcome their divergences and sustaining dialogue between them, the JCC decisions are being ostentatiously neglected by the Transnistrian administration, and the peacekeeping forces have proved unable to maintain stability in the security zone and ensure the implementation of the JCC decisions. It is not surprising that a few days after the President made these statements, Russia and Ukraine, both mediator states, issued a common statement in which they expressed their concern with regard to the stalemate to which the process of the Transnistrian conflict settlement has come.

At the same time, western observers have shown concern with the recalcitrant tone of President Voronin, which is far from helpful under the current situation and will worsen further the already tense relations between Moldova and Transnistria. President Voronin’s statements are all the more so out of place given that at the moment there are no real possibilities of implementing alternative mechanisms for the resolution of the Transnistrian conflict.

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Transnistrian Conflict on July 26 – August 29, 2004

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