Monitoring→Politics→Transnistrian Conflict

Efforts to resume the negotiation process

Helsinki hosted on June 10, 2008 a working meeting of mediators and observers participating in the Transnistria settlement negotiations. The meeting held at the initiative of OSCE chairman-in-office took place in the “3+2” format, without the participation of Moldova and Transnistria. It focussed on the necessity to consolidate actions aimed at building confidence between the conflicting parties, support working groups established after the April 11, 2008 Voronin-Smirnov meeting. These actions should finally prepare a favourable climate to resume the “5+2” conflict resolution negotiations. In spite of the invoked efforts the situation is stagnating. The meeting of Presidents Voronin and Medvedyev held during the Sankt-Petersburg CIS Summit has failed to approach the resumption of the “5+2” negotiations (see the commentary). On the other hand, the Russian president has awarded the “Friendship” Order to a founder of the Transnistrian separatist regime, Grigori Maracutsa. Maracutsa was curiously awarded three days after the CIS summit for his contribution to developing friendship and interparliamentary relations within the Union for Democracy and Rights of People. This union is nothing but CIS-2 or “separatist international” made of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnsitria.

Actions to undermine confidence

In spite of efforts to strengthen confidence between the two banks of the Dniester River, the situation has rather regressed in the period concerned. Transnistrian authorities have invoked a series of problems and took actions to undermine the Chisinau-Tiraspol relations. Thus, Transnistrian leader has categorically urged Moldovan authorities to recognise Transnistria’s ownership on the railway from the left bank of the Dniester River, threatening with new conflicts and speculating that Moldova is blocking again the transit of commodities on the Transnistrian railroad. Such speculations aim to justify the step by the Tiraspol regime to declare the segment of railway from the left bank of the Dniester as property of the eastern breakaway enclave.

In this context, Transnistrian leaders accused Moldovan authorities of taking deliberate actions to block the use of a spectre of TV and radio waves by Transnistrian broadcasters. The facts invoked by Transnistrian authorities have been registered half or a year ago and Tiraspol stresses them now to discredit the so-called confidence-building actions which are being discussed starting April. By invoking norms of the international law, the Transnistrian side wanted to threaten Chisinau with replying actions.

The demarcation of the Transnistrian section of the Moldovan-Ukrainian border has become a very sensible issue between Chisinau and Tiraspol. Knowing the trilateral interest (EU-Moldova-Ukraine) to delimit the Moldovan-Ukrainian border, Transnistria is ostentatiously resisting to Moldova’s participation in the delimitation process. Transnistrian leader Igor Smirnov said that should Ukraine refuse to delimit the border with the Moldovan Transnistrian Republic, Transnistrian authorities will do this unilaterally. Transnistrian observers note that Tiraspol would act this way to pose more problems to Ukraine, as the latter is supposed to be accepted in the NATO pre-accession round. Perhaps this is an exaggeration, as Transnistria’s resistance to Ukraine’s plans would be too expensive. It is much easier to explain this by desire of Transnistrian authorities to assure that the invoked segment of the border is Transnistrian-Ukrainian, not Moldovan-Ukrainian.

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