Tiraspol-based organization asks Russian authorities not to allow "strengthening of blockade on behalf of Moldova and Ukraine"

Chisinau, 6 June /MOLDPRES/ - An organization including more public structures, positioned as “the people’s forum from all Transnistria,” led by the leader of the breakaway Transnistrian republic, Vadim Krasnoselsky, on the last days, appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin with a request not to allow “the strengthening of the blockade of the Transnistrian region by Moldova and Ukraine,” according to electronic sources.   

“We address with an appeal not to allow a new wave of tension against the Transnistrian region, which is expressed through actions of blocking by Moldova and Ukraine, backed by the European Union and the OSCE Mission from Chisinau,” reads the message by the Tiraspol-based organization.  

The appeal also reads that the authorities of Moldova and Ukraine, with the financial, information and expertise support of EU, started setting joint control on the segment of border between the Transnistrian region and Ukraine. The signatories say that these actions were not coordinated with Tiraspol and are undertaken despite the agreements reached in the five-plus-two format (Moldova, Transnistrian region, OSCE, Russia, Ukraine and observers on behalf of the USA, and EU).   

At the same time, the appeal’s text reads that “the measures taken by Chisinau and Kiev can result in annual losses of 40 million dollars for the economy from the left bank of Dniester, which represents approximately the fifth part of the region’s consolidated budget and ten per cent of the Transnistrian residents may remain jobless and without means of existence.”  

Similar letters have been sent to Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the chairpersons of the Federal Assembly and State Duma, Valentina Matviyenko and Vyacheslav Volodin, as well as the president of the Security Council of Russia, Nikolai Patrushev. Messages with the same content are to be sent to the Council of Europe, OSCE, diplomatic missions accredited in Moldova.      

On 31 May, Chisinau and Kiev established joint control at the Moldovan-Ukrainian state frontier at the border checkpoint Kuchurgan-Pervomaysk, on the Transnistrian segment. “This bilateral cooperation between Moldova and Ukraine will contribute to the simplification of the procedures of border control of persons and customs clearance of goods, streamlining the road traffic, removing the negative phenomena present at the border,” Deputy Prime Minister Gheorghe Balan has earlier said. On the other hand, the head of the domestic affairs department of the breakaway Transnistrian republic, Vitaly Ignatyev, said that he did not rule out that Transnistrian would appeal to Russia with a request to deploy Russian representative as force which might be able to ensure security at the border checkpoints.     

On 25 May, the cabinet of ministers approved a decision on the signing of an Agreement with Ukraine on joint control of persons, transport means and goods at the checkpoints of the Moldovan-Ukrainian state border. The document is meant to replace the accord between the two countries on organization of joint control, signed on 11 March 1997.    

(Reporter L. Grubii, editor A. Raileanu)