Bendery, 16 November. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. The regular meeting of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) confirmed a Pridnestrovian military observer and considered the reports of the Joint Military Command (JMC) about the situation in the Security Zone.
The JCC focused on the opening of the bridge across the Dniester near the villages of Bychiok and Gura Bicului, scheduled for 20 November.
After many hours of discussion, the parties adopted the fundamental points in the implementation of the protocol decision signed by the Moldovan and Pridnestrovian negotiators, although some aspects, including the infrastructure of law enforcement posts, are yet to be discusssed.
This is the configuration of peacekeeping posts, the passing procedures, the law enforcement infrastructure that is deployed near the bridge. The Joint Control Commission has yet to take the appropriate decisions about it. And this work has already started," said Pridnestrovie's JCC co-chair, Oleg Belyakov.
"The Moldovan side somehow linked the opening of the bridge with the establishment of certain law enforcement infrastructure near the bridge. But we are well aware that if the bridge starts functioning, there naturally must be a certain control system. Earlier Protocol 574 clearly stipulated which posts were on the Pridnestrovian side and which on the Moldovan side," said Belyakov.
The basic functions of maintaining security, passing traffic across the bridge remain within the jurisdiction of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces (JPF). In this connection, the JMC was instructed to develop a plan of relevant arrangements.
"In fact, all the fundamental points taken as a basis for the opening of the bridge in the context of the protocol decision of political representatives of Moldova and Pridnestrovie have been approved by the commission. We have said today that this decision had been taken and had begun to be implemented from the point of view of our military," concluded Oleg Belyakov.
The bridge was blown up during the Moldo-Pridnestrovian conflict of 1992 and restored in 2000. Traffic, however, was not resumed. Pridnestrovian President Vadim Krasnoselsky proposed to resume traffic across the bridge. The chief negotiators of Moldova and Pridnestrovie signed a corresponding decision. An agreement has been reached to avoid using the bridge for military purposes.
