The Russian MFA's Information and Press Department: "Moldova and Ukraine's coordinated actions for imposing an economic and transport blockade on Pridnestrovie aimed at compelling it to compromise in the negotiating process and refuse its foreign-policy priorities may result in aggravation of the situation in the region."
As mentioned in the commentary by the Russian MFA's Information and Press Department, posted on the ministry's web site, "at the same time Chisinau's top leadership is again calling upon to withdraw the Russian troops; the necessity of changing the status of the peacekeeping operation on the Dniester and its transformation to a civilian mission have been brought to focus again.
"Against this background, discussions within the framework of the Joint Control Commission are deliberately becoming tense. Under pretext of the Ukrainian events, the communication with Pridnestrovie via Ukraine is being impeded. There are threats to denounce the corresponding Russian-Ukrainian agreements. Misinformation is being spread in mass media on the alleged arms delivery from Pridnestrovie to Ukraine's Southeast. Besides, Kiev has started to dig an anti-tank ditch 'for safety reasons' along the Pridnestrovian segment of the Moldovan-Ukrainian border, which is also contributing to the escalation of tensions.
“As we have already warned our partners in the negotiating process - representatives of Ukraine and the OSCE, as well as observers from the USA and the EU - all the trust ruining actions mentioned above may deadlock the negotiating process. Kiev's and Chisinau's authorities should realize their straight-line responsibility for possible negative consequences of the steps they are taking to aggravate the situation.
“With regard to the Russian peacekeepers, they provide security in the zone of their responsibility on the concerted international legal basis and by right of the corresponding mandate. They honestly and selflessly carry out their mission. Their strength lies not in their quantity, but in confidence the population have in them.
“Any contentious actions aimed at destabilizing the situation in the region and attempts at driving out the Russian contingent, which is part of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces, from Pridnestrovie will be considered as unfriendly towards Russia, undermining the foundations of the peacekeeping operation and contradicting the spirit and letter of the Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Moldova," says the commentary.
