Tiraspol, April 6. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. The deployment of a joint Moldo-Ukrainian border and customs post at the Kuchurgan crossing point may turn Ukraine — now a mediator between the sides and a guarantor state — into a conflicting party, Pridnestrovie's Joint Control Commission co-chair Oleg Belyakov said on the First Pridnestrovian TV channel.
He recalled that the Moldo-Pridnestrovian conflict had not been settled and if the sides' armed forces were divided by the peacekeepers in the Security Zone, they would be no longer separated after Moldovan police and customs officers were deployed at the Pridnestrovian-Ukrainian border.
«The question arises as to who will separate the sides in the event of a conflict. Ukraine is a guarantor state. If we assume that Ukraine will take one party's side during the conflict, it will immediately become a conflicting party to a certain extent," said Belyakov.
Meanwhile, according to Belyakov, the likelihood of various conflicts and provocations is real. This is testified by the JCC's experience in the Security Zone.
«It was in 2013 in Bendery's Severniy [Northern] residential area. There were nearly 400 Moldovan and 70 Pridnestrovian law enforcers in the same territory. The confrontation was about to lead to tragic consequences," said Belyakov.
Other incidents have repeatedly occurred as well. «Such incidents occurred in 2004 at a law enforcement post near Dorotskoye village. As well as in 2014, near the Bendery 1 railway station, at the river port which is directly in Bendery. There are a lot of such issues routinely arising between the sides' law enforcers in the Security Zone. They are quite common," said the co-chair.
One of the templated reasons for a conflict is the attempts by Moldovan law enforcers to detain Pridnestrovian citizens in the republic and take them to Moldova.
«They cross Pridnestrovian checkpoints. There, they are naturally stopped by our border guards or migration agency officers. A conflict arises. And only the Joint Control Commission and peacekeeping forces are able to settle this conflict," noted Oleg Belyakov.
According to him, the plans of Moldova and Ukraine to organise joint customs and border control have aggravated the situation, which should be evaluated based on the existing documents of the negotiating process.
Oleg Belyakov recalls, in the meantime, that in compliance with Article 5 of the 1992 peaceful settlement agreement any obstacles preventing the movement of goods, services and people should be eliminated.
Which problems and obstacles for Pridnestrovian citizens and economic entities may result from the deployment of Moldovan law enforcers at the Ukrainian border can be read here.
