Tiraspol, January 9. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. Economic pressure on Pridnestrovie and ignoring negotiations on the part of Moldova will lead to an escalation of the conflict, PMR President Vadim Krasnoselsky said in an interview with TASS.
“Pridnestrovie had been calling on Chisinau for dialogue for many years, trying to avoid tension and economic war, but Moldova is persistently following the path of escalation. And it is it who bears the responsibility for further inevitable consequences,” Vadim Krasnoselsky said.
The President of the PMR called the policy of the Moldovan authorities towards Pridnestrovie erroneous and noted that it could lead to a complete break in Moldovan-Pridnestrovian relations.
“Unfortunately, the Moldovan authorities continue their wrong path, refusing constructive dialogue with Pridnestrovie at all levels, provoking tension and increasing confrontation. This approach is completely counterproductive. The only thing it can lead to is a further deterioration of Moldovan-Pridnestrovian relations up to their complete rupture and escalation of the conflict. This is a road to nowhere, and the Moldovan authorities must be aware that this time the cost of their mistake may turn out to be much higher,” PMR President Vadim Krasnoselsky said.
Let us recall that Moldova began to increase pressure on the foreign economic activity of Pridnestrovie in February 2022. Then the PMR was faced, particularly, with restrictions on the import of medicines, plant protection products, and then medical equipment. Because of this, prices for a number of socially important medicines have increased in Pridnestrovian pharmacies, while farmers were faced with rising production costs.
Since the summer of this year, we can already talk about a second stage of sanctions on the part of Moldova, even broader one. Not only Pridnestrovian importers, but also exporters began to experience increasing difficulties. On August 10, Chisinau, violating the agreements with Tiraspol reached back in 2014, introduced the already mentioned fee for customs clearance of imports and exports of the PMR (0.4% of the customs value of imports and 0.1% of the customs value of exports).
Around the same time, the Republic of Moldova has been restricting export supplies of Electromash, Moldavizolit and Potencial. Especially to the eastern markets, declaring that the goods of the three Pridnestrovian factories are dual-use products. Even though Romanian experts confirmed that this is not the case.
On January 1, Chisinau began collecting customs duties from Pridnestrovian companies. For them, this means paying double payments: to the PMR budget and to the budget of Moldova. Pridnestrovie's losses are estimated at tens of millions of dollars.
