Tiraspol, 20 April. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. Moldova and Ukraine may start joint control at the Kuchurgan crossing in the end of May, statements by the press service of Ukraine's border authorities reveal. It has turned out customs and border officials of Moldova and Ukraine held a meeting the other day which resulted in the harmonisation and signing of a supplement to the technological scheme on the organisation of the joint control of persons, vehicles and goods at the Kuchurgan crossing.
At the initial stage, the border service reports, for the first six months Moldovan border guards will monitor the entry to Pridnestrovie (from Ukraine) and Moldovan customs officers will monitor the exit from Pridnestrovie (to Ukraine).
After this «test version», Kishinev and Kiev will proceed to full control on our border with Ukraine.
According to the adviser to the Supreme Council speaker, Sergey Shirokov, the neighbours' desire to establish joint control by the beginning of summer is not spontaneous.
«For at least six months Moldova and Ukraine have been conducting routine work to establish joint customs and border control on the Pridnestrovian segment of the border at Ukraine's Kuchurgan checkpoint. Why are they now in a hurry and what's the reason for this accelerated process? «It is obvious that such actions by Moldova and Ukraine are coordinated and have a certain political colouring," said the expert.
According to him, the purpose of these actions is the integration of the Pridnestrovian economy into Moldova's legal framework. Moldova already made an attempt to do this in 2006 when our neighbours dealt a unilateral blow to Pridnestrovian exports. The appetite comes with eating, and today they have made a stab at blocking imports. Specialists underscore that such actions will result in product collapse and may seriously jeopardise individual entrepreneurship. Kishinev calls these arguments speculative.
«There are attempts to represent the installation of posts as certain bilateral relations between Moldova and Ukraine, which I think is unrealistic and inconsistent with reality. I also doubt that someone has ever estimated possible scenarios in case of the establishment of these posts. Because these are problems which anyway may lead to a serious conflict," the foreign minister, Vitaly Ignatyev, said in one of his interviews.
Not once has Pridnestrovie called on the mediators and observers of the negotiating process to heed Tiraspol's position, backed by the Russian side, and place this issue on the table for negotiation within the «Permanent conference…» format. But Austria, the current OSCE chairman-in-office, is turning a blind eye on unilateral steps by Ukraine and Moldova, echoing Kishinev's allegations that this situation is not a subject for discussion in the «5+2» format. This, in turn, raises major questions about the efficiency of the negotiating format, Sergey Shirokov says.
«The position of the Austrian chairmanship is somewhat perplexing because at the highest political level, at the level of presidents the parties to the conflict turn to the mediators, indicate the issue of posts as a problem that may lead to an escalation of tensions. In this case the mediators ignore such appeals. Of course, this brings into question the efficiency of the '5+2'," says Sergey Shirokov, noting a direct analogy with the year 2006 when Pridnestrovie was blockaded.
«Back then the '5+2' format had already been blocked due to Moldova's fault, and Pridnestrovie was simply deprived of the opportunity to appeal to the international community. It is very undesirable that both observers (the US and EU) and the OSCE as a mediator lose control of the situation, making the negotiating format inefficient or blocked," said Shirokov.
Joint control at the Kuchurgan border crossing is a direct threat to both the Pridnestrovian economy and peace in the entire region, experts say.
«For the first time since 1992, the law enforcers of the PMR and Moldova will find themselves outside the control and competence of Russian peacekeepers, and no one can guarantee today that this direct contact will not become a possible point of escalation," said Sergey Shirokov.
