Moldovan President Igor Dodon, Speaker Adrian Candu and Prime Minister Pavel Filip confirmed their common position on Pridnestrovie, says a joint statement issued after their meeting with the ambassadors of Ukraine, Russia, USA and EU, as well as the head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova.
«The common position of the Moldovan authorities was confirmed on the need to find a compromise on the most pressing issues of the negotiating agenda as set out in the Berlin Protocol as well as in the bilateral dialogue between Kishinev and Tiraspol," says the statement.
Earlier, President Igor Dodon supported the establishment of joint Moldo-Ukrainian control of the Pridnestrovian border, which might have a negative impact on the country's economy — it might lose $40 million — and its small business.
The Ukrainian ambassador, Ivan Gnatyshin, said last week that «Kiev is seeking to impose a blockade on Pridnestrovie so that the breakaway region's trade will be regulated by Kishinev.»
In January 2017, Moldova and Ukraine agreed to establish joint control at the Kuchurgan border crossing at the Pridnestrovian-Ukrainian border, thus violating one of the main principles of the negotiating process — to avoid putting pressure on one of the parties. The OSCE has in fact sided with Moldova on this issue and is refusing to discuss it in the international «5+2» format.
In May 2017, Ukraine put a ban on the transit of certain food categories to Pridnestrovie without Moldova's official approval, which is seen by experts as a new act of pressure on the PMR.
The Austrian OSCE chairmanship has stated it is not going to convene a «5+2» meeting until the conflicting parties reach a compromise on the Berlin Protocol. Tiraspol is urging the mediators to fulfil their obligations as if the parties could agree on their own, there would be no need for mediators.
Russia's ambassador at large Sergey Gubarev, who visited Tiraspol and Kishinev last week, pointed out a prolonged pause in the negotiations and the need for an early international meeting. A week earlier, the US ambassador James Petit expressed regret about the lack of results in the negotiating process during his visit to Pridnestrovie. He said that Moldovan politicians only talk about their readiness to negotiate while in fact they only «revisit issues that have long been left unresolved.»
It seems that the Moldovan authorities have decided to courtesy the international partners and play their favourite game again: to reiterate their readiness for compromise without taking any real steps and to continue along with Ukraine to exert pressure on Pridnestrovie through an economic blockade.
Nikolay Syrbu
