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Transnistrian Conflict on December 6–19, 2005

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The negotiations round of 15–16 December 2005

On 15–16 December, in Chisinau and Tiraspol took place a new round of negotiations on Transnistria in the format “5+2”, attended by representatives of the Moldovan and Transnistrian parties, mediators on behalf of the OSCE, Russia and Ukraine, and observers on behalf of the US and the EU.

The participants in the talks adopted a final protocol, which states that by the next round the OSCE will prepare a draft mandate for the international assessment mission to evaluate the situation in Transnistria in view of organising democratic elections there; the Transnistrian side will provide full information regarding its troops and weapons in accordance with the package of draft documents on confidence building measures and security presented to the two parties in July 2005 by the OSCE; participants addressed a request to the OSCE Chairman-in-Office to deploy to the region an international mission to monitor the Transnistrian military-industrial complex; participants discussed the situation in the security zone regarding which the OSCE made a number of recommendations to the parties. The next round of talks was scheduled for 26–27 January in Tiraspol and Chisinau.

According to the Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, William Hill, it was “very difficult” to achieve agreement on all issues discussed, but certain results were achieved, which is “better than nothing”. According to Hill, the most debated was the situation in the security zone, in particular the one near the Dorotkaia village. The OSCE Mission prepared a series of proposals regarding the freedom of movement of goods and people, the utilization and cultivation of agricultural land, the functioning of customs and police check points etc., which the mediators and the observers recommended to the two parties. The situation will be re-examined at the next round of talks, upon which a special working group will be created to look at the situation further. Likewise, the parties could not reach an agreement regarding the setting up of an international assessment mission to evaluate the situation in Transnistria in view of organising democratic elections in the region. The parties only agreed that the OSCE Mission will prepare a draft mandate for the mission until the next negotiations round.

The talks started on the same day when the Russian and Ukrainian presidents made a joint statement on Transnistria. According to the statement, the Russian Federation welcomes the Ukrainian initiatives on Transnistria, and Ukraine regards as “substantial” the latest Russian proposals on the margins of those initiatives. Russia and Ukraine reaffirm their support for all agreements on Transnistria reached to date, and state that the sustainability of any agreed solution will need to be ensured through a complex mechanism of guarantees. The two Presidents mention the stabilising role played by the current peacekeepers and consider opportune to transform it into an operation of peace guarantors under the OSCE aegis upon the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict.

The statement was not commented upon officially by the Moldovan side, but was called by the Moldovan Reintegration Minister Vasile Sova an “interference” in the internal affairs of Moldova. According to the electronic magazine Kommersant.ru, which quotes Moldovan governmental sources, the Moldovan side is unhappy with the statement because it confirms the intention of the Russian Federation to grant the 1,500 troops stationed in Transnistria the status of peacekeepers, and then persuade the OSCE to let them stay in the region under OSCE aegis. This manoeuvre will allow Russia to declare that it has fulfilled its Istanbul commitments, but at the same time preserve its military presence on Moldovan soil.

The OSCE Ministerial Council in Ljubliana

The OSCE Ministerial Council taking place in Ljubliana on 5–6 December ended, for the third time, without having adopted a Final Political Statement, due to Russia’s refusal to include in the final text a clause stating the lack of progress in the Russian troops and weapons withdrawal from the Transnistrian region of Moldova.

In his final statement, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Slovenian Foreign Minister, Dmitrej Rupel, stated that “most ministers stated the lack of progress in 2005 in the process of Russian forces withdrawal from Moldova” and that “the ministers reaffirmed their shared determination to promote the fulfilment of these commitments as soon as possible to open the way to the adoption of the Adapted Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe”. We would like to remind that the Treaty has been ratified by only four states- Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. All other signatory states have conditioned the ratification of the Treaty by the complete and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops and weapons from Moldova.

The Russian Foreign Minister, Serghei Lavrov, told a press conference after the OSCE Council that Russia attaches little significance to the Council’s failure to adopt a final declaration. Lavrov explained Russia’s refusal to sign the final document through the presence of a number of “unacceptable” clauses related to the ways of solving the Transnistrian conflict. Lavrov also stated that Russian had fulfilled all its commitments related to the CFE Treaty by withdrawing from Moldova all relevant equipment. The weapons that are still in the region will be withdrawn when the “right conditions” are in place, meaning the resumption of the negotiations on Transnistria.

Observers in Chisinau have deplored the OSCE Summit failure to adopt a final document, but noted that Moldova had achieved a symbolic victory at the Summit due to the universal consensus that existed among the participating states, except Russia, regarding the principles of solving the Transnistrian conflict, and the need for the unconditioned withdrawal of Russian forces from Moldovan soil. At the same time, the Russian veto on the final document and its conditioning of withdrawal through the “right conditions” have revealed a tougher and more assertive Russian foreign policy, which seems to be applying to the Transnistrian problem as well.

Elections to the Transnistrian “Supreme Soviet”

On 11 December in the Transnistrian region took place the so-called elections to the region’s “Supreme Soviet”, elections that have not been recognised by the international community. The elections were held in the best of Soviet traditions in an atmosphere of holiday, ordered by the Transnistrian authorities to ensure the 25% validating voter turnout. For the 43 “deputy” mandates ran 179 candidates, mostly representatives of two key electoral blocs — the pro-Smirnov movement “Respublica” and the movement backed by the big businesses from the region “Obnovlenie”.

According to Olvia-press, little over 50% of the approximately 400,000 registered voters participated in the elections. The deputy mandates were won by 23 candidates from “Obnovlenie”, 13 candidates from “Respublica” and 7 candidates from other socio-political movements and independent candidates. 27 deputies from the old legislature were re-elected, including the “perennial” Supreme Soviet Chairman, Grigori Maracuta.

The deputies elected on behalf of the winning bloc “Obnovlenie” are mostly representatives of big financial-industrial circles from the region, including the Firm “Scheriff” and the Metallurgical Factory from Ribnita. These have been reportedly the main losers from the economic restrictions imposed by the Moldovan Government on Transnistrian businesses in August 2004, and, as such, some of the most interested stakeholders in finding a compromise on the status of the region. The movement controlled 17 out of the 43 deputies in the former parliament, and its leader, Evghenii Sevciuc, is known to be the author of a number of modernising initiatives such as the constitutional reform, the legislative initiative to turn the Transnistrian official TV into a public company, and the campaign to dismiss the former “Justice Minister” Victor Balala.

At the same time, the two political movements, although promote different interests, did not show their differences too much, and have equally pleaded for the international recognition of Transnistria and the fortification of its “statehood”.

As a political intrigue of the electoral campaign lacked, the break away authorities concentrated all their efforts on achieving international recognition of the elections. Thus, according to official statement, dozens of observers from the CIS, Israel, Poland, Ireland, Moldova etc. monitored the elections and stated unanimously that the elections were free and fair.

The Moldovan authorities did not recognise the ballot, which they called a new undemocratic “electoral farce”, out of line with international standards. At the same time, the Russian authorities published a communique which stated that although elections were held in an unrecognised entity, the comments of observers and the media showed that elections took place in conditions a “genuine competitiveness” among the candidates and that no violations were registered during the voting process.

November 22 – December 5, 2005 December 20, 2005 – January 15, 2006