Monitoring→Politics→Transnistrian Conflict

Lithuania wants to help resolve the frozen conflicts

At the special meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, the Chairman in Office of the organization, Audronius Azubalis, Foreign Affairs Minister of Lithuania, who took over the OSCE presidency, said that one of the priorities will be to contribute to settlement of conflicts through peaceful ways and negotiations. According to the OSCE Chairman, in recent years the organization he represents has made some progress, although problems are still present and they need to be addressed. Therefore, OSCE Lithuanian presidency will insist on resuming official negotiations on Transnistrian settlement in 5+2 format. Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Moldova supported the priorities of OSCE presidency, highlighting aspects of major importance, such as:

• the need for prompt resumption of official negotiations in 5+2 format;
• observance of human rights in Transnistrian region, and continuation of efforts to release Ernest Vardanian and Ilie Cazac, illegally detained by Tiraspol regime;
• withdrawal of foreign military forces from Moldova and transformation of the current peacekeeping operation in a civilian observer mission under a relevant international mandate.

The head of Transnistrian diplomacy, Vladimir Yastrebchak, reacted to the stated priorities of the OSCE presidency as usual. He underlined that:

• Transnistria does not refuse to negotiate in “5+2” or other format, but the resumption of negotiations can take place as a result of thorough preliminary preparations;
• “5+2” format provides an important framework for maintaining the interaction between political representatives of the parties to the conflict, representatives of guarantor states and mediators;
• the key is not formalize the negotiations in “5+2” format, but to proceed from previous agreements, reached with the involvement of the leaders of Russia, Transnistria, Moldova and Ukraine.

Transnistria’s foreign policy priorities in 2011

The head of Transnistrian diplomacy, Vladimir Yastrebchak, stated that in 2011 the foreign policy priorities of Transnistria will be to prove demonstrate its right to international recognition. In this respect, Yastrebchak stressed the need to strengthen the relations with Russia and Ukraine. In the relations with Chisinau the priority will remain the issues of increasing the activity of expert groups, who must resolve the problems of simple citizens. To this end, it is necessary to jointly combat the crime and unlock the economic activity of Transnistrian enterprises.

For Transnistrian diplomacy a positive signal is the development in Southern Sudan, where a referendum on independence for the southern region is conducted. According to Yastrebchak it is very important that the situation in Southern Sudan is resolved through a referendum to be recognized internationally. In the same context he noted that “number of such special cases increases every year: Montenegro, Kosovo, Abkhazia and South Ossetia have already achieved their independence. Hopefully this quantity will pass into quality, which will be applied to Transnistria. Clear trends were established — the people’s will should be on first place”.

The resolution of strategic problems should be first, and then of other problems…

Russian Foreign Affairs Minister, Sergey Lavrov, said on January 14, 2011 that his country is willing to make its best in Transnistrian issue so that the parties to return to the negotiating table. It’s not surprising, although it fully supports Transnistria from diplomatic, economic, financial, military point of view, etc., Russian authorities constantly state they don’t force the parties to support any solution which would be reached by the Republic of Moldova and Transnistria. However, it is of interest that Minister Lavrov disagrees with the opinion of some European Union members that Transnistria would be a test of sincerity for Russia and if it will solve the Transnistrian problem then it will prove that it is interested in European security. Russian Minister changes the optics — “the test for Russian interest in European security is not to solve the Transnistrian problem, but to create a joint NATO-Russia missile shield. Should we talk about European security test, I am convinced that the ability to create a joint Russia-NATO European missile defence system would be a much tougher test for the sincerity of declarations that security is indivisible”. Thus, EU wants first the sincerity to be proved by resolving a regional conflict entirely depending on Russia’s wiliness and only then to proceed to joint construction of strategic issues. Russia wants the reverse, to start first building a joint shield with NATO, and under the shield the things shall remain unchanged.

Transnistrian law enforcement bodies defy the stability in Security Zone

At the meeting of January 13, 2011, Moldovan delegation to the Joint Control Commission (JCC) has expressed its concern about the actions of Transnistrian law enforcement bodies that unilaterally established checkpoints instead of those reduced by joint peacekeeping forces. These actions represent a violation of normative acts that regulate the process of pacification. Transnistrian representatives refused to discuss this issue. In the same context, JCC members representing Moldova have expressed their concern about the fact that Transnistrian customs officers resort to apprehending the transport means of joint peacekeeping forces, thus violating the JCC decisions on free movement of peacekeepers in Security Area. The same JCC meeting accepted as a JCC expert from Ukraine the lieutenant-colonel Vladimir Talikov, Ukrainian Military Attaché in Moldova.

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