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Transnistrian Conflict on February 1–14, 2010

Efforts of Kazakh OSCE Chairmanship to settle Transnistrian conflict

As the OSCE Chairman, the Kazakh Republic pledged to contribute actively to settlement of the Transnistrian conflict. Statements in this respect were delivered by the representative of Kazakhstan to OSCE, Bolat Nurgalyev, who visited the Republic of Moldova in early February 2010. After meeting the leadership of the Republic of Moldova and leaders of the Tiraspol administration, Nurgalyev reported that representatives of participants in the Transnistrian settlement process are set to meet in Vienna on March 1 for consultations. According to Nurgalyev, there are premises to encourage some agreements shaped last year, particularly issues relating to needs of people from both banks of the Dniester River.

The political representative of the Republic of Moldova, Deputy Premier for Reintegration Victor Osipov stressed that expert groups resumed their work and are expected to help building confidence and develop bilateral cooperation. According to Osipov, during February 11–25 the expert groups were expected to discuss eventual common projects to be developed. On that occasion, the names of the heads of working groups on behalf of Chisinau were revealed: Octavian Calenii — economy and commerce; Boris Gherasim — infrastructure and railway communications; Deputy Minister Gheorghe Turcanu — healthcare; Ion Stavila, head of the governmental bureau for reintegration — demilitarization; Vasile Bumacov, deputy chairman of the Union of Agricultural Producers — agriculture and ecology; Deputy Minister Loretta Handrabura — education; Deputy Minister of Labour, Social Protection and Family Sergiu Sainciuc — humanitarian assistance.

On the other hand, a representative of the Transnistrian region, Tiraspol foreign minister Vladimir Yastrebceak insisted on a complex approach of issues related to bilateral cooperation and development of common projects for benefit of citizens, so that to avoid politicizing them. In this context, Tiraspol leader Igor Smirnov stated that economic and political problems shall be tackled separately. Thus, Tiraspol administration reconfirms clauses of the older strategy — to settle just economic problems with Chisinau and leave aside the political issues as long as possible.

Provocations by Tiraspol administration go on

After Transnistrian customs officers held in late January the head of Moldovan peacekeepers, Aurel Fondos, other provocations followed in early February. Thereby, armed Transnistrian border guards held on January 27 four Moldovan citizens who reside a commune from the right bank of the Dniester for having crossed the iced river, and so allegedly crossed the Transnistrian border illegally. Representatives of the Joint Control Commission (CUC) on behalf of Moldova described the accusations as absurd, as the Transnistrian administration cancelled in 2008 the obligation for residents of border localities to pay customs fees and get registered while crossing the border.

However, Transnistrian law enforcement organs decided to hold the four citizens in custody for a 60-day term and obliged them to pay an overall fine of about 20,000 dollars for an alleged illegal cutting of trees. Relatives of the held persons said that the fifth one was released immediately to tell them that they must pay the fine, and this looks like a money extortion attempt. The four suspects were released on February 11 after the Moldovan authorities have involved representatives of international organizations, as well as of participants in the “5+2” Transnistrian settlement format.

Some days before, on February 8, another provocative manifestation was recorded — the US ambassador to Moldova, Asif Chaudhry, was denied access to the territory controlled by the Transnistrian regime to attend a meeting of Moldovan-Transnistrian working groups aimed to build confidence between the two banks of the Dniester.

Municipal elections in Transnistrian region polarize political forces

The municipal elections in the Transnistrian region set for March 28, 2010 motivated the interest for an additional attempt to oppose the regime of Igor Smirnov. So, an initiative to build a political bloc of leftwing parties was raised in early February. The initiative was supported by the Party of Communists of Transnistria led by Oleg Horjan; Social Democratic Party led by Alexandr Radcenco; Komsomolist Organisation of Transnistria led by Mihail Mihalitin. Some nongovernmental organizations also supported this initiative.

The declared goal of initiators of ideas is to consolidate an opposition political force to resolve pressing problems of citizens from the left bank of the Dniester; extend competences of local administration; limit competences of the central administration head, limit the number of terms for running this office; introduce a proportional electoral system; ensure conditions for an equal access of people to justice and of political forces to mass media etc. It is worth noting that no organized political force in Transnistria, even under umbrella of big business from the region, succeeded a serious opposition to Tiraspol leader Igor Smirnov who rules the region for approximately 20 years.

Intelligence scandal between Transnistrian settlement guarantors

The issue 5 of the Ukrainian publication “Zerkalo Nedeli” from February 13, 2010 published an article titled “Story about failure of Russian intelligence services in Ukraine”. Author Yuri Butusov described in details the arrest of five Russian intelligence officers by Ukrainian authorities after subversive operations against Ukraine held both in Ukraine and Transnistria with the participation of Russia-controlled Transnistrian intelligence services. The writer wonders how does this subversive activity of Russian intelligence services match with the peacekeeping mission declared by the Kremlin authorities and what kind of secret objects in Transnistria do the Russian authorities speak about after admitting that they held special actions in the region. Given this incident, one may wonder if the Russian authorities will keep insisting on their peacekeeping mission in Transnistria or will choose other propaganda-making methods to justify their military presence in the Republic of Moldova.

January 18–31, 2010 October 1–31, 2010