New meeting of Joint Control Commission takes place in Bender

Chisinau, 6 December /MOLDPRES/ - A proposal, earlier formulated by Russia’s delegation on the verification and analysis of the situation in the Security Zone following the introduction by the Transnistrian side of its “border guards” structures and extending their powers, was repeatedly not possible to be included on the agenda because of the vehement opposition by the Transnistrian side, at a meeting of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) on 5 December, the Reintegration Policies Bureau has reported.    

In the context, Moldova’s delegation reasoned the importance of considering this subject and expressed firm position to further insist on the formulation by the JCC of its attitude towards these inadmissible abuses in the Security Zone. The sides confirmed willingness to tackle the concerned problem at consultations at the level of the three co-heads of the Commission, with the participation of representatives on behalf of Ukraine and OSCE Mission in Moldova.   

Another aspect highlighted at the discussions deals with the deliberate blocking or procrastination by the Tiraspol representative in the Joint Military Command (JMC) of the agreement on the movement of military observers, in order to document the infringements signaled in the Security Zone. A similar case took place on 2 December 2019, when the Tiraspol power-wielding forces set a mobile ”border guards” post at the intersection of the streets which connect the Varnita village to the Bender city, thus blocking the free movement of citizens and subjecting them to illegal controls. The abuse was regularly discovered by the chief military head of JMC of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces, who demanded the movement of military observers on the spot. Nevertheless, the late movement, due to the opposition by the Transnistrian region’s representative, allowed “border guards” to withdraw without being fixed by military observers.      

Moldova’s delegation considers that, through such procrastination actions, the Transnistrian region’s representatives in the Joint Peacekeeping Forces try to cover the serious infringements of Tiraspol, as well as to compromise the institution of military observers. 

As a result, after hot discussions, the JCC members agreed to attract the attention of the Joint Military Command to the need to quickly approve the decisions on the movement of the group of military observers on the spot.    

The Commission took note of the weekly report of the Joint Military Command on the situation in the Security Zone for the period 27 November – 3 December 2019. 

In terms of organizational issues, the participants in the JCC meeting approved a new head of the commandant’s office of the Bender city, - district with enhanced security regime – Sergey Tikhonov.