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Transnistrian Conflict on December 20, 2005 – January 15, 2006

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Belgium takes over the OSCE Chairmanship in 2006

Frozen conflicts in the former USSR and organised crime will be the priorities of the Belgian Chairmanship of the OSCE in 2006, the Belgian Foreign Minister, Karel De Gucht, told the OSCE Permanent Council meeting on 12 January. Minister de Gucht expressed his hope that 2006 will be the year of “new opportunities” in relation to frozen conflicts and called for the resumption of negotiations on Transnistria, according to a press release from the OSCE. At the same time, the Russian electronic publication Regnum.ru, making reference to a BBC interview with Minister de Gucht on 11 January, quoted him as saying that there are few chances for the Transnistrian conflict to be solved in 2006. De Gucht will concentrate his attention on the Russian military presence in the region, but believes inefficient resuming the discussions regarding the fulfilment by Russia of the 1999 OSCE Istanbul Summit resolutions. According to Regnum.ru, Minister de Gucht has already discussed the problem of Russian troops and weapons in Transnistria with the Russian Foreign Minister, who showed open for discussions. At the same time, de Gucht said that one of the “complicating factors” is the position of Moldova, which insists on the model of unitary state, and showed inclined to support the idea of federalisation of Moldova, Regnum.ru reports with reference to BBC.

The new-elect Transnistrian “Supreme Soviet” starts activity

Evghenii Sevciuk will be the Speaker of the new “Supreme Soviet” elected in the 11 December 2005 ballot. Sevciuk, leader of the “Obnovlenie” Movement supported by big businesses from the region, was elected Chairman of the new-elect legislative body through the vote of 39 out of 40 deputies present. His opponent, the Speaker of all three former legislatures, Grigori Maracuta, withdrew his candidacy in the favour of the leader of the movement who got most votes and in order to “give the young a chance to accomplish themselves”. Please note that in the parliamentary elections of 11 December 2005, which were not recognised by the Moldovan authorities, nor by the international community, the “Obnovlenie” Movement won 23 of the 43 deputy mandates in the “Supreme Soviet”.

Evghenii Sevciuk is 37 years old and is considered to be close to the “Scheriff” Firm, the largest private corporation from Transnistria, for whom he worked before serving as deputy-speaker in the previous parliament. Known as the author of a series of liberal legislative initiatives, many observers have pointed to Sevciuk as the political leader who can be an alternative to the current leadership of Transnistria, while President Voronin called him the “most prospective” candidate for negotiations with Moldova. At the same time, one of the ideologists of the Transnistrian regime, “security ministry” officer, Dmitri Soin, called the current political setup of the “Supreme Soviet” as one of “consensus and compromise” among the key political forces of Transnistria, and which has not justified the expectations of the Moldovan Government that the “new” parliament will become a “hotbed of destructive opposition”.

Notably on 30 December the Moldovan and Ukrainian Prime-ministers signed a Common Statement on the Regulation of Transit of Goods through the Moldovan-Ukrainian Border. According to the Statement, from 25 January will be introduced unified Moldovan-Ukrainian customs procedures, whereby only goods accompanied with documents bearing Moldovan customs stamps will be allowed through the border.

Along with the EU monitoring at the Moldovan-Ukrainian border from December 2005, this new measure is likely to cause important losses to the big Transnistrian businesses, in particular the Firm “Scheriff”, which holds the largest share of import-export operations in Transnistria. As the existence of the unresolved conflict becomes less profitable for such big players, it is indeed likely that the politicians who represent their interests become readier to compromise and work towards a resolution to the Transnistrian conflict.

December 6–19, 2005 January 16–31, 2006