On Friday, a meeting of representatives on political issues from Pridnestrovie and Moldova took place in Bendery. During the second meeting this year, Vitaly Ignatiev and Oleg Serebryan discussed a current block of problematic issues, which mainly relate to the economy, healthcare and other humanitarian areas.
The atmosphere both around the Moldovan-Pridnestrovian settlement and directly in the dialogue between the parties is not the most positive, but the alternatives to even the worst negotiations look much worse. This time, the Pridnestrovian Foreign Ministry decided to make an unexpected “knight’s move” and invited, first of all, Chisinau, but also other participants in the negotiation process, to formalize their commitment to resolving the conflict exclusively by peaceful means and collectively adopt a corresponding declaration.
The initiative is more than relevant in the context of the general regional situation, as well as the endless exercises of the Moldovan army with military contingents of NATO countries, as well as with special forces from the United States. Obviously, this kind of training does not bring peace to the residents of Moldova and Pridnestrovie, so it would be logical for Chisinau to take the initiative and defuse the militarized information agenda. How Serebrian will ultimately officially speak out on the draft declaration will become an indicator of how sincere the leadership of Moldova is in its statements about peace.
When communicating with the press, the Moldovan negotiator did not make any critical comments regarding the draft declaration. Moreover, the Moldovan negotiator’s rhetoric has noticeably softened compared to statements made earlier this year, although not entirely convincingly, but he even tried to refute his recent statements in the Moldovan press about Moldova’s actual withdrawal from the negotiations.
It also became known that we should soon expect a decision on the import of digital X-rays for the needs of the Republican Clinical Hospital in Tiraspol. In addition, the Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister allowed himself to call messages about fines for the lack of a Moldavian medical policy in the official applications of Moldovan banks a fake and a provocation.
Despite the encouraging statements of Chisinau representatives, the negotiations still need additional motivation and intensification. Apparently, it was for this purpose that the head of the PMR foreign policy department invited representatives of Moldova to think about an on-site expert event, taking into account the Maltese chairmanship in the OSCE, in response to which Serebryan announced the existing initiative of Foreign Minister Ian Borg to organize a meeting of political representatives in Valletta.
It is difficult to believe that some significant circumstances have arisen around the Moldovan- Pridnestrovian conflict that are pushing Chisinau to adjust its tough and often completely irrationally uncompromising position. It cannot be ruled out that the Moldovan authorities nevertheless listened to some recommendations of their external partners and were forced to meet halfway on purely humanitarian aspects. Nevertheless, all this indicates that the negotiation process between Tiraspol and Chisinau still has a chance to resume full-fledged work, including at the international level.
Pavel Alexandrov
