Alegerile parlamentare din 2021 în Republica Moldova - alegeri.md
 Monitoring→Politics→Transnistrian Conflict

Transnistrian Conflict on December 2–15, 2006

|print version|mail| e-journal #86 |

US to contribute to Transnistrian conflict settlement

During the meeting in Washington of the Moldovan Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Andrei Stratan, with the US State Secretary; Condoleezza Rice, the latter assured that the US will continue to support the efforts aimed towards the territorial reintegration of the Republic of Moldova. The American State Secretary stated that the US will further contribute to the international efforts in this direction. “Moldova is a good friend of the USA. We will contribute to overcoming the obstacles hindering the development of your state. A successful implementation of reforms will contribute to the achievement of the European integration of Moldova”, said Rice, according to a communique from the MFAEI. Minister Stratan in his turn thanked the US for its continuous and consistent assistance for territorial reintegration, economic development and democratisation of Moldova. Stratan also thanked the US for the support granted to Moldova at the recent NATO Summit and the OSCE Ministerial Council in Brussels regarding the implementation of the obligations assumed by Russia to withdraw its troops and munitions from Moldova.

The OSCE Ministerial Council

The 14th OSCE Ministerial Council took place on 4–5 December in Brussels. At the summit the Republic of Moldova called upon the Russian Federation to fulfil the obligations assumed in Istanbul in 1999 to withdraw its troops and munitions from the territory of Moldova and thus demonstrate its respect for the sovereignty, independence and constitutional neutrality of Moldova.

“The current re-opening of the bilateral Moldovan-Russian dialogue, the proposals of the President of Ukraine and the documents adopted by the Moldovan Parliament in 2005 create a new atmosphere, one which is favourable for the resolution of the Transnistrian conflict. In this sense, we call upon the Transnistrian authorities to remove as soon as possible the obstacles for the free movement of people and goods, to take the region out of the current isolation, to ensure the respect for fundamental rights and liberties in the region”, the Moldovan Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Andrei Stratan, stated in Brussels.

The Moldovan position was supported by delegations of the European Union, US, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Turkey, Latvia etc., wich have expressed their firm support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Moldova.

Erkki Tuomioja, the Finnish Foreign Minister, speaking on behalf of the Presidency of the European Union, reiterated the EU support for a sovereign and territorially integral Moldova and called for a resumption of the “5+2” negotiations with a view to reaching a comprehensive agreement on political, economic and security problems, including the reorganisation of the peacekeeping operation. At the same time, the UE reiterated the lack of progress in the process of withdrawal of Russian troops and munitions from Moldova and called upon Russia to fulfil its obligations unconditionally.

The US Deputy State Secretary on political issues, Nicholas Burns, criticised Russia for the pressure exerted on Moldova and Georgia and for the failure to fulfil its commitments to withdraw troops and munitions from the two states. Burns also stated that the US will insist that Russian meets its 1999 Istanbul obligations, whose fulfilment is but a “matter of time”.

On the other hand the Russian Foreign Minister, Serghei Lavrov, blamed Moldova for the fact that Russia has stopped the process of withdrawal of its troops and munitions from the Transnistrian region. Answering journalists’ questions, Lavrov stated that the withdrawal of Russian weapons from Transnistria will only take place after the effects of the unilateral actions of Moldova will be overcome and as a result of the resumption of the political negotiations. At the same time, Lavrov stated that reaching of an agreement between the two sides will only be possible with the participation of all sides involved and expressed hope that after the recent meeting between the Russian and Moldovan presidents there will be progress in this sense. Referring to Russia’s Istanbul commitments, Lavrov said that these are often the subject of speculation and are linked to the ratification of the adapted Treaty of Conventional Forces in Europe. “There was no link between the settlement of conflicts in Georgia and Moldova and the ratification the adapted CFE Treaty in Istanbul”, Lavrov said.

The works of the OSCE Ministerial Council did not result in the adoption of a final statement. For the fourth consecutive year, this has happened duet o divergences between the majority of the OSCE Member States and Russia. Likewise, no final regional statement on Moldova was adopted. The Belgian Foreign Minister presented the view of the OSCE Chairman in Office regarding developments in the OSCE. The SUA, EU and NATO presented Final Statements in which they expressed their views on the results of the forum. They have unanimously called upon the Russian Federation to finalise as soon as possible the process of withdrawal of its troops and weapons from Georgia and Moldova.

“Presidential elections” in the Transnistrian region

On 10 December in the Transnistrian region so-called “presidential elections” were held, at which the office of “president” was contested by four candidates: current Transnistrian leader, Igor Smirnov, Chairwoman of the Communist Party, Nadejda Bondarenco, independent candidate, Piotr Tomaili, and the editor in chief of the newspaper “Novaia Gazeta”, Andrei Safonov.

According to the data of the Transnistrian “central electoral commission”, Igor Smirnov received 82.5 % of the votes of the 257,000 (66% of voters in the voter rolls) voters who participated in the poll. Thus, Smirnov will hold the “presidential mandate” for the fourth consecutive time; he has been the leader of the region since its self proclamation in 1990 and to date. Smirnov is followed by the communist candidate — Nadejda Bondarenko, with 8 % of votes. Andrei Safonov gathered almost 4% of the votes, and Piotr Tomaili — 2%. Against all voted 1.6% of the participants in the vote.

According to tradition, the “presidential” elections in Transnistria have been monitored by international observers, including a group of deputies in the Russian State Duma. The latter organised a press-conference after the ballot at which they said that they did not observe any irregularities during the electoral campaign or on election day that could have put a question mark on the validity of election results. According to the deputy Chair of Russian Duma, Serghei Baburin, “despite the problems related to the registration of Andrei Safonov, the opinion of the people, as expressed at elections, was not affected”.

On the other hand, the candidate of the Transnistrian “opposition”, Andrei Safonov, expressed his lack of trust in the official results of the ballot. He said that the data of the “central electoral commission” did not correspond with the data of some independent sociological studies according to which Smirnov would not have gathered more than 64% of the votes. We would like to remind that Safonov was registered only a few days before the elections, following a court ruling annulling the initial refusal of the region’s electoral body to register him on grounds that the number of false signatures presented in his support exceeded the legal threshold.

Moldovan authorities have condemned the “elections” in the Transnistrian region and have called upon the international community not to recognise them. The US, EU, OSCE and Ukraine said they did not recognise either the legitimacy of the Transnistrian “elections” or its results.

October 16–31, 2006 December 16–31, 2006