Tiraspol, 9 October. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. The Public Chamber of Pridnestrovie expresses its deep concern about the escalation of the situation around Pridnestrovie and Russia's peacekeeping mission.
this is a further escalation of relation initiated by the Moldovan leadership through persistent attempts to get Russia to pull out its peacekeeping military contingents from the region.
"In our view, the decision of the Constitutional Court and the statement of the Moldovan parliament, the statement by the Moldovan prime minister made at the UN General Assembly, which declare the Russian peacekeeping mission an occupation regime, do not aim to settle relations but rather to 'defrost' the Pridnestrovian conflict," underscore chamber members.
The Public Chamber notes pridnestrovians are ready to support any action really aimed at resolving the relationship between Pridnestrovie and Moldova both in the "5+2" negotiation format and during bilateral meetings.
"So far, however, we have only seen the actions that increase tension. These includes customer and economic restrictions, which go counter to the 1997 memorandum, restrictions on the freedom of movement for pridnestrovian citizens, establishment of joint Moldo-Ukrainian posts at the Pridnestrovian border," says the chamber's statement.
According to the chamber, these and other measures deliberately lead the Moldo-Pridnestroviaqn relations to the resumption of hostilities. The only stabilising factor in the region is the Russia-led peacekeeping mission whose functioning is ensured by the Operational Group of Russian Forces.
"Taking all this into account, we fully support the president's initiative to request the United Nnations to consider granting Pridnestrovie observer status at the UN ans to establish a permanent UN working group on Pridnestrovie," said the deputy chair of the chamber.
Chamber members call upon all Pridnestrovians to deprecate the escalation of the conflict in the region.
In May, the Constitutional Court of Moldova declared the presence of Russian peacekeepers in Pridnestrovie illegal. The Russian military was equated to the occupying forces. The Moldovan authorities attempted to disrupt the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the peacekeeping operation. The Modlovan peacekeeping contingent refused to take part in the celebration, and Russia's vice premier, Dmitry Rogozin, was denied entry to Moldova. After that the Russian military attaché, who was also a memeber of the Joint Control Commission, was declared persona non grata. The Moldovan authorities tried to put the issue of Russian peacekeepers in Moldova on the UN Genaral Assembly's agenda. Members of Moldovan public organisations also bring oil to the fire, proposing the country's leadership to withdraw from the 1992 peaceful settlement agreement.
Members of Pridnestrovian veteran organisations and trade unions have announced the collection of signatures in support of the current format of the peacekeeping operation and against the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers and OGRF servicemen.
