Transnistrian Conflict on October 11–25, 2005

The period covered here has seen a series of preparations for the organisation of a new round of negotiations on the Transnistrian issue after a pause of more than one year. This will take place on 27–28 October 2005 in Chisinau, in the extended format with the participation of the US and the EU as observers.

On 11–14 October a large delegation from the Russian Federation paid a visit to Chisinau and Tiraspol to discuss issues related to the Moldovan-Russian relations and in particular the Transnistrian issue. The Russian delegation was composed of representatives of the Government apparatus, Security Council, Ministry of Economic Development, Gazprom, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, etc. The delegation was headed by the first deputy chair of the Security Council under the President of the Russian Federation, Yuri Zubakov, former Russian ambassador to Moldova in 2003–2004.

In Chisinau, the Russian delegation met with President Voronin, Prime Minister Tarlev, Foreign Minister Stratan, Reintegration Minister Sova, the leadership of the Moldova Gaz joint stock company.

According to the Moldovan President press service, during the meeting with the Russian delegation, President Voronin said that there were no contradictions in the relations between Moldova and Russia, and that the only unresolved problem is that of Transnistria. On the other hand, summing up the results of his visit to Chisinau, Yuri Zubakov told journalists in Tiraspol, as quoted by Infotag, that “there are serious problems” in the relations between Chisinau and Moscow and if “the Moldovan side tends to stress one single issue, that of Transnistria, we are concerned about several aspects … including our economic-commercial relations, the historical roots of normal cooperation in general, which in real life are being eroded”.

In Tiraspol the Russian delegation spent two days, during which they met with the Transnistrian leader Igor Smirnov, other Transnistrian authorities, and representatives of local businesses and of the Russian communities in the region. Yuri Zubakov said that the visit to Tiraspol did not have any political aims, but was an opportunity to examine the situation on the spot, understand people’s real problems. The agenda of Tiraspol visit featured discussions of economic problems and problems related to the “social and political protection” of Russian citizens residing in Transnistria. According to the Russian Ambassador to Moldova, Nicolai Reabov, quoted by the Transnistrian official news agency Olvia-press, at present in Transnistria there are about 150,000 people willing to receive the Russian citizenship, which requires a facilitation of the citizenship procedure, and a series of measures are already being considered in Moscow in this sense. Such measures would comply with the recent change of attitude in Moscow towards compatriots living in the unrecognised states in the CIS area.

Observers in Chisinau have commented the visit of the Russian delegation as directly related to the upcoming negotiations round and intended to promote the recently proposed Russian plan on Transnistrian settlement. The plan reiterates many provisions of the so-called Kozak Memorandum and proposes the creation of a confederation between Moldova and Transnistria, granting the latter large competencies such as the right to participate in the foreign policy of the confederation, equal representation in the bi-chamber legislative, military guarantees from Russia.

During the same period Chisinau was visited by the OSCE Chairman in Office, Dmitrii Rupel, Slovene Foreign Minister. In Chisinau, he showed optimistic as to the resumption of negotiations in the enlarged format. “Now that such important factors of influence participate in the negotiations, it will be easier for us to advance ion the way to settlement”, Rupel said. At the same time he reiterated that the OSCE will not monitor and will not recognise the elections to the Transnistrian legislative scheduled for this December, because they will not be democratic under the current circumstances and called upon the Transnistrian authorities to cancel the poll. Referring to the new Russian plan, Rupel said that it was “too radical” and granted “too much independence” to Transnistria.

If the plan will or will not be discussed at the 27–28 October talks, it is not yet clear. The mediators in the Transnistrian conflict meeting in Ljubliana on 21 October to discuss the agenda of the negotiations round gave little detail about this to the press. Elections in Transnistria, the EU border monitoring mission, the inspection of the Transnistrian military-industrial complex would be the subjects one would expect to feature on the agenda, unless a last-minute change of plans occurs as for example a new settlement plan on the negotiations table.

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Transnistrian Conflict on October 11–25, 2005

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