Tiraspol, 16 August. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. An even bigger gap may emerge in the relationship between Kishinev and Moscow. As Russia's Izvestia has reported, Moldovan MPs are discussing the introduction of a visa regime for Russians, but the ultimate decision has not been made so far. It is noted that this idea is a continuation of diplomatic interventions by the Moldovan government against Russia, in particular, the declaration of Russia's vice premier, presidential representative on Pridnestrovie Dmitry Rogozin persona non grata.
According to the ex-deputy foreign minister of the PMR, Sergey Simonenko, proposing such initiatives, the Moldovan parliament seeks to minimise Russia's role in the region.
«Naturally, this is one of the elements that may affect the Moldo-Pridnestrovian settlement. It is an attempt to control, first and foremost, Russian citizens, Russian soldiers who come to Pridnestrovie for rotation," Sergey Simonenko believes.
Political expert Vladimir Bruter said on Radio Sputnik that the Moldovan parliament wanted to make as much information noise as possible.
«This is, of course, a provocation. In order to introduce a visa regime, there is no need to discuss it in the parliament — the government's decree would do. And the Moldovan president can't do anything to prevent it. The provocation is that this issue is being discussed and has gone public. In fact, Moldova is not going to introduce visas for Russian citizens; it shows it is ready to do so. The prospects have been outlined by President Dodon. There is a huge number of Moldovan citizens in Moldova, there are rather few Russian citizens in Moldova," noted the Russian expert.
It is noteworthy that yesterday Moldova's foreign ministry rushed to refute media reports about the country's authorities' intention to introduce a visa regime with Russia. Such initiatives are not being considered, they say.
Last week, plans were announced in Kishinev to impose total control on abroad trips by the Pridnestrovian leadership. According to experts, the last steps by Moldova are aimed at disrupting the negotiating process and isolating Pridnestrovie from the outside world.
«Moldova is trying to implement one of the elements which concerns, first of all, changing the status of the conflict itself, that is, today' Moldo-Pridnestrovian conflict will turn into exclusively Moldova's domestic problem, which the country will try to solve on its own," believes the ex-minister.
As noted by Pridnestrovian MP Andrey Safonov, such plans «aim to take control of our officials' trips.»
«This is a demonstration of strength. This does not eliminate our foreign policy efforts, but it is chiefly designed for external measures to show reluctance to make concessions," said Safonov. According to him, the Moldovan authorities may try to refuse entry in Pridnestrovie to journalists, politicians and diplomats who come both from Russia and other countries.
Referring to the reasons for such a reaction by Kishinev to President Krasnoselsky's visit to London, Safonov stressed that Moldova traditionally considered the EU and the USA to be a sphere of its influence, which receives only one-sided information.
«In this case, the destruction of Kishinev's monopoly begins. Since 1990 our republic has always had contacts with the West, so now it is unreasonable and to no avail to take such steps," the MP believes.
According to Safonov, for more than a year Pridnestrovie has been observing attempts to derail the negotiating process and freeze the «5+2» format.
«Kishinev's westerners want to stifle Pridnesrtrovie until the parties sit down at the negotiating table, and thus there will be no one to talk to," said the parliamentarian. Andrey Safonov added that despite Moldova's destructive steps, Pridnestrovie still had its own potential to resist in many areas: food, industrial, agrarian, military and political-diplomatic.
Such initiatives, which are designed to exacerbate relations with Russia and to disrupt the dialogue between Tiraspol and Moscow, have recently grown in number. That Moscow would react to such «friendly» behaviour is evident. The form of this reaction is still unknown.
It should be noted that over 200,000 Russian citizens live in Pridnestrovie.
