Consultations between participants in the Transnistrian conflict settlement, set for 7-8 October, did not take place. The mediators, observers and the conflicting sides, who were to meet in Vienna, were expected to coordinate the next steps aimed first of all towards the resumption of five-plus-two negotiations. None of the sides had any objections either to the format of negotiations, or consultations or the idea of resuming the negotiations.  Yet, when the Moldovan authorities expressed their willingness to participate in the Vienna meeting in order to identify specific solutions, Tiraspol said that it refuses to send its representatives to Austria.

At a first sight, such a decision by Tiraspol arouses bewilderment, the more so if we take into consideration Tiraspol’s complaints that Chisinau and the West limit the access of Transnistrian officials in the EU countries, depriving them of the possibility to present their own vision on how this long-lasting conflict should be settled. And now that they had the possibility to do it, the Tiraspol foreign ministry refused to send its representatives in Vienna to inform the participants in talks and all the 27 EU member states about their own visions. They renounced the chance of persuading Europe that they are right to think the way they do. Yet, the situation is strange only at the first sight. As a matter of fact, the Tiraspol decision perfectly fits into their efforts of undermining any possibility of resuming negotiations on some specific mechanisms of settling the conflict and reintegrating the country.

Lately, the official Transnistrian press, has published a string of propaganda materials meant to persuade the public opinion of the fact that the five-plus-two format is merely “a consultative body” and a final solution can be found only in a trilateral format that comprises Russia, Chisinau and Tiraspol. But actually, nobody talked about this in such terms. Both the Russian Federation and the other participants in the five-plus-two format, except for Tiraspol, remain loyal to the commitments they have earlier assumed and are ready to look for a solution by taking into account the interests of the sides involved in talks and first of all, the interests of the people who is tired of living in this state of “neither war or peace”.

Another propaganda statement made by Tiraspol is that the settlement can be ensured either on the basis of an improved Kozak Memorandum which would offer broader liberties to the Transnistrian autonomy, or on the basis of the so-called draft friendship and cooperation agreement with Moldova, which Igor Smirnov handed to Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin on 11 April. At the same time, given that the draft implies the recognition of Transnistria’s full independence by Moldova, the local authorities do not take into consideration the fact that the last document is in breach of the commitments the Transnistrian side has earlier undertaken to look for a compromise solution within Moldova’s internationally recognized borders. Secondly, it is in breach of Russia’s position, according to which Moscow recognizes Moldova’s territorial integrity.

It is clear as day light that in this rather intricate situation, tyhe Moldovan leadership will stay calm and will further look for solution to this deadlock. Chisinau’s calmness is first of all based on the observance of systematic fulfillment of commitments. As concerns the Tiraspol leaders, the latest events tarnish mainly their reliability. Now it is absolutely evident that by talking permanently about the inability of the Chisinau authorities to hold talks, the Transnistrian administration did nothing but divert attention from their own inability.