Moscow, 19 February. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. Amid the current stagnation in the negotiation process, Moldova and Ukraine are taking complex coercive measures against Pridnestrovie, said Pridnestrovie's acting foreign minister, Vitaly Ignatyev, during a news conference at MIA Rossiya Segodnya.
«We can say that the strengthening of these external 'steel grip' we have found ourselves in coincided with the Ukrainian crisis, and actually since the summer of 2014 measures restricting economic development and citizens' freedom of movement have been applied against Pridnestrovie in a systemic manner," said the minister. He explained that this so-called Ukrainian operation Border is still under way and prevents Russian male citizens, aged 16−65, from crossing the Ukrainian border, though they are permanent residents of Pridnestrovie.
«This includes a number of ungrounded economic measures such as the detention of our cargoes, check-up of transit cargoes going to Pridnestrovie and the Ukrainian government's decree No. 117 prohibiting the delivery of excisable goods to Pridnestrovie. This is a significant income item in our budget and, of course, this also refers to the actions taken by Moldova and Ukraine behind Pridnestrovie's back to disrupt the mechanism of railway transportation and delivery of cargoes to Pridnestrovie," noted the diplomat.
Vitaly Ignatyev said that over the past 11 years Pridnestrovian engines have transported cargoes from Ukraine to Pridnestrovie. «Now we are deprived of such a possibility: all cargoes must get registered and transported by Moldovan engines only. Correspondingly, our railway is losing its potential, our enterprises are incurring extra logistic, administrative and financial costs, our contractual obligations are violated," explained the minister.
This may result in an aggregate loss of over $4.5 million for Pridnestrovian economic agents.
According to the Pridnestrovian diplomat, the main problem of the negotiation process is the absence of a dialogue paradigm. The Moldovan side refuses to search for solutions to the most pressing issues. Therefore, the main task for Pridnestrovie's MFA at the current stage is to boost this work.
«The existing mechanism of the international negotiation process is in a systemic crisis. The Moldovan side avoids holding a normal dialogue; we cannot solve issues within the existing mechanisms. There are 11 special expert working groups designed to solve a wide range of problems. But unfortunately, the work of these groups is being sabotaged by our Moldovan partners. Meetings of political representatives from Moldova and Pridnestrovie, with me being one of them, are also being sabotaged. I can't meet my political counterpart because, as our Moldovan partners say, there is a political crisis in Moldova and they cannot participate in negotiations, which delays the solution of concrete issues," said Ignatyev.
«And of course, the international 5+2 format, comprising all our international partners, is not functioning either due to the reasons mentioned above. In fact, they [Moldova and Ukraine] are trying to handcuff Pridnestrovie, thus pushing the negotiation process to the margins of the agreements existing within this process and trying to portray Pridnestrovie not as an equal partner, but as a side against which all spectre of repressive measures can be taken. This prevents us from solving many issues," noted Ignatyev.
Pridnestrovie is putting certain hopes on Germany's OSCE chairmanship since «the German side has expressed result-oriented intentions and is demonstrating a pragmatic approach».
«And here our positions generally coincide. We also need concrete results rather than declarations. That is why the resumption of a full-fledged 5+2 dialogue will depend on Moldova's readiness to solve practical issues at all levels and search for compromise solutions," underscored the head of Pridnestrovie's MFA.
