Transnistrian Conflict on January 17–30, 2005

A new attempt to resume the negotiation process on the Transnistrian problem was made within a round of working consultations organised on the initiative of Ukrainian authorities on 25–26 January 2005 in the town of Odessa. The consultations were attended by Moldovan and Transnistrian delegations and representatives of the mediators from the OSCE, the Russian Federation and Ukraine.

According to a joint statement by the mediators, the consultations did not result in any practical decisions due to the absence of the head of the Transnistrian delegation Valeri Litkai. However, the parties discussed ways to solve some practical matters for the population from both banks of Nistru River, such as the functioning of the Moldovan Latin script schools from the Transnistrian region, ensuring the free movement of people and goods in the security zone and resuming the functioning of the bridge in the vicinity of the village Gura Bicului. The meeting also discussed the regulations on travel to Transnistria of diplomats accredited to the Republic of Moldova issued on 6 January 2005 by the Moldovan authorities. Earlier representatives of the OSCE, Ukraine and Russia called these regulations, whereby diplomats have to get special permits for entry into Transnistria, an obstacle in their activity as mediators in the Transnistrian problem.

On 27 January 2005 the Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a communique in which the Moldovan authorities declared that the lack of results of the Odessa meeting proved once more the inefficiency of the current negotiations mechanism and emphasised the need for US and EU involvement in the Transnistrian conflict resolution process.

The Russian and Ukrainian representatives at the meeting declared that the very organisation of the consultation round after a long pause in the negotiations process may be regarded as a positive development. On the other hand, the Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, William Hill, declared in an interview to Radio Free Europe that it is out of question to resume the political negotiations process before the completion of the electoral campaign in Moldova, but expressed confidence that the dialogue between the two parties needs to be maintained, especially at the level of expert groups who could tackle some of the practical issues between the parties.

In the meantime, the Transnistrian leader Igor Smirnov, who was in Moscow last week, declared at a press conference held on 26 January at the Moscow-based press agency Interfax that the tensioning of relations between Chisinau and Tiraspol owes to the attempt of the Moldovan authorities to increase their rating in the wake of the March parliamentary elections. Smirnov also said that Tiraspol might end all ties with Moldova due to the latter’s intention to replace the Russian peacekeepers with international ones and to change the negotiations mechanism by inviting the US, EU and Romania to join it. During the same period, leaders of other separatist entities from the CIS — South Ossethia and Abhasia — visited Moscow, but Smirnov said he “unfortunately” did not meet with them.

In another development, the Ukrainian State Customs Office has announced that it will ban transports to Transnistria of goods unaccompanied by documents of the Moldovan customs bodies. According to the Transnistrian official press agency Olvia-press, the Ukrainian authorities have already retained several lots of goods on the way to Transnistria in the Ukrainian locality of Ilyichovsk. Thus, Kiev has finally answered the demand made by the Moldovan authorities in August 2004 not to allow the transit of goods without official documents issued by Chisinau.

At the same time, the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister of Ukraine Olexander Motac, who visited Chisinau to attend the GUUAM Summit on 28 January, declared that Ukraine is one of the states most interested in the final resolution of the Transnistrian problem, which will allow for the economic development of the entire region. Ukraine supports the current five-sided negotiations format, but at the same time pleads for the inclusion of the US and the EU in the political negotiations process, said Motac, according to Basa-press.

Motac’s statements, the measures taken by the Ukrainian customs services and Kiev’s initiative to hold the consultations in Odessa have revealed, according to some observers in Chisinau, Kiev’s new approach to the Transnistrian problem, which is in line with the new Ukrainian leadership’s European orientation. Thus, it seems that the political change in Kiev has opened up new avenues for the Transnistrian conflict resolution process. At least, it has made possible the implementation of such measures long encouraged by the European community as the introduction of joint Moldovan-Ukrainian border controls on the Transnistrian segment of the Eastern border of Moldova.

e-democracy.md

Transnistrian Conflict on January 17–30, 2005

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