The PMR President Vadim Krasnoselsky:
There is a need to hold a Security Council meeting today. What I would like to note in this whole situation, which is difficult for Pridnestrovie, of course. There is a lot of speculation. Moldovan politicians especially like to stir up this topic, wanting only one thing – for everything to be bad in Pridnestrovie. I will start with Russian gas. There are many opinions about why the Russian Federation allegedly gave gas to Pridnestrovie for free all these years. I want to explain. A little history. Relations between Pridnestrovie and Moldova have always been difficult, but there were times when we managed to reach an agreement, compromises were reached, something was signed and implemented most importantly. Of course, the famous Moscow memorandum stands out, which was signed in May 1997 by three presidents – Pridnestrovie, Moldova and the Russian Federation. This memorandum assumed broad foreign economic opportunities for Pridnestrovie. Pridnestrovie traded freely, naturally, our entrepreneurs had bank accounts, were engaged in foreign economic activity, paid taxes in full, which allowed them to fully fulfill their obligations to the citizens of our republic and pay for Russian gas. Moldova perfidiously violated this memorandum in March 2006, stopped implementing its provisions, and began to subordinate Pridnestrovie's foreign economic activity to Moldovan legislation. Many entrepreneurs went bankrupt that time, many industries stopped, there was a huge decline in GDP. Of course, Pridnestrovie needed help. Compatriots, citizens of Russia, everyone who lives here needed help. The only state that provided support in that situation was the Russian Federation then. But due to the fact that, due to the fault of the Moldovan side, financial assistance in the form of transfers was complicated, Russia made a decision on technical assistance. That is, we were offered to use the money for the consumed gas for the budget, to cover social obligations. This is true. There was a special gas account, and this gas account ensured the fulfillment of our obligations to the people living here. This technical, humanitarian and technical assistance was provided by the Russian Federation in connection with the destructive actions of Moldova to limit business in Pridnestrovie in fact. That is the real reason. This is how things have been by and large until today and now Mr. Serebryan has dared to say that we have accumulated some kind of fabulous debt by fraudulent means. I would like to address Mr. Serebryan. Dear Mr. Serebryan, it is not your business to count the aid of the Russian Federation to the Pridnestrovian people. I would suggest that Mr. Serebryan should rather count the multi-billion aid that Romania, Western countries and other sources have provided to Moldova over all these years, and where this multi-billion aid was directed.
You should conduct an audit, count every cent and show the people living in Moldova how you spend the aid that is provided to you. We are ready to do this regarding Russian aid. By the way, we send reports to the Russian Federation twice a month, to several authorities for control over the spending of Russian humanitarian aid, everything is public and open with us. We used these funds for the development of Pridnestrovie – this is normal. Do the same with your aid, it would be very interesting to see. Another important point regarding Russian gas. Didn't you, gentlemen in Moldova, receive cheap electricity from Russian gas? Savings – hundreds of millions of dollars annually. You modestly keep silent about this. You keep silent about the fact that, receiving cheap energy at six cents per kilowatt, you collected from citizens twice, three times more. Why do people pay so much for electricity when you used to get cheap electricity from Pridnestrovie? Answer these questions to the people, your people. We need to remember the laundromat in addition, the theft of a billion, where not all the people were held accountable. There are many things to remember. So, help yourselves. We don’t need help in this regard. There is no need to count Russian aid. There are people to count: Pridnestrovie and the Russian Federation. We have always been grateful to Russia for the aid that was provided to us in Pridnestrovie, unlike you. Russia helped you in the form of cheap electricity. But we haven’t heard a thank you from you, Mr. Serebryan and all the other politicians. As for the imaginary aid that Moldova offers to Pridnestrovie, I can once again state quite publicly and responsibly: no letters have been received from Moldova to the President of the PMR, the Government of the PMR, or the Supreme Council of the PMR about providing any aid. Excerpts from letters from Mr. Serebryan are appearing online, but I have already instructed Vitaly Viktorovich Ignatiev to publish all correspondence with Mr. Serebryan publicly. All of it. His letters and letters from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PMR. A letter from December 11 last year has appeared online, it will be published, where Mr. Serebryan speculates on the topic of a possible energy crisis. Mr. Serebryan is concerned about the posts there that security measures will be strengthened, etc. There is our corresponding response. One more thing regarding assistance. Of course, we need assistance. It is understandable. People are having a hard time. People are freezing, electricity is being cut off at regular intervals. I can tell you what assistance Moldova can provide, real assistance. Not in words, not in letters from Serebryan, but real assistance. Returning to normal banking relations, unblocking the accounts of our enterprises, not hindering foreign economic activity in order to preserve the teams, pay salaries and taxes – that is assistance. It is Moldova that fraudulently takes money from our budget by introducing double taxation on our entrepreneurs. Give this money back. It belongs to our people. We use this money to help the population. There is no need to offer us beads, figuratively speaking, and a bag of crackers. Everything is fine with our food, we are provided with food. Give back what was fraudulently stolen from the Pridnestrovian people. This is the truth.
Mr. Serebrian accuses our side of not wanting dialogue. It is strange to hear this. I personally sent seven letters signed by me to the Moldovan President Ms. Sandu over four years calling for dialogue. I have not received a response to any of them. Well, what kind of dialogue? There is an agenda. Moreover, I am sure that if I had been heard, if there had been meetings in 2021, 2022, 2023 and so on, there would most likely not have been today's crisis. It is the lack of dialogue that leads to crisis phenomena and ultimately to wars, which I categorically exclude between Pridnestrovie and Moldova. I can reassure Moldovan politicians: no one is escalating the conflict, we are not considering a military scenario for our relations, and I do not advise you to do so either. We will continue to strive to resolve our problems only by peaceful means. Therefore, I urge you to dialogue, dear Moldovan politicians. The agenda is known – it is peace, it is economic relations, taxes and everything else, the rights of citizens living in Pridnestrovie.
As for the negotiation process, how does it look? Yes, there were such rays of light in our history between Pridnestrovie and Moldova, when we managed to sign something. I can highlight 2017-2018, when, in the development of the decisions of the "5 + 2", "Berlin", "Berlin +" formats, we managed to sign protocol decisions, with which we made a good step forward in terms of stabilizing relations and solving problems that worry residents of the right and left banks. Everything was going well in this regard until June 2019. Moldova stopped fulfilling previously signed agreements in June 2019, in the fall it completely disrupted the final signing of the document of the "5 + 2" meeting in Bratislava, then in Germany. There is a specific name behind this – Mr. Shova. I have never named him, but I will. It was he who disrupted the final meeting of the 5+2 format. This is true. Who was behind him? Who led him? Did he make decisions on his own? The fact itself is important. The 5+2 format never met again after this incident. There was the pandemic then, military actions in Ukraine, and so on. But the Moldovan side suspended the 5+2 format. There is more to tell. I sincerely always believe that trouble unites people – normal people, sincere people. I thought the same way when the world was hit by a common problem called the pandemic. I have already said and I will repeat again, I really thought that Moldova and we would join forces on issues of combating the pandemic, quarantine, providing the necessary equipment, etc. What did we see? I was, frankly, shocked. Moldova did everything to aggravate the situation with the pandemic in Pridnestrovie. What did these people do? They simply kept our vehicles in Moldova for up to two months, not letting anyone in here, without any reason. What was in the cargo vehicles? These were medicines, personal protective equipment, oxygen devices. Up to two months of downtime – until Ukraine opened the crossing in Kuchurgany, and goods started entering again. What did the Moldovan rulers hope for? That Pridnestrovie would collapse, that people would die, that they would be denied assistance? But it didn’t work out. It won’t work out now. Yes, it’s hard, yes, it’s complicated, but we will overcome this too.
As for the development of relations, there is no dialogue between Pridnestrovie and Moldova. Unfortunately, there is none. I suggested using all possible means to resume dialogue at the highest level, but Moldova refused as I said earlier. Nothing will happen without dialogue. If someone thinks that Pridnestrovie will fall to its knees and ask to join Moldova, and you will mock the Pridnestrovian people, as it was before, nothing will work out for you. Your hopes will not come true. The Pridnestrovian multinational people live here, who in their history chose a multinational, not a mononational path of development. It is hard for everyone, regardless of nationality and citizenship. We can talk today about a humanitarian catastrophe in fact that is ongoing, gaining momentum. We are containing it as best we can, not allowing extremely negative consequences, we are working on this. We worked on this all last year, preparing, understanding that this could happen. I wanted to believe to the end that it would not happen, that they would somehow come to an agreement, but it did not work out. Returning to the topic of the gas component, with which I began: Serebryan distorts and speculates on the topic of the debt of Moldovagaz, Pridnestrovie. There were letters earlier. I want once again to recall the words of your Mr. Parlikov, where he directly said that the debt of Pridnestrovie to Gazprom was not mentioned, it was not on the agenda in all negotiations. Only the debt between Moldovagaz and Gazprom was mentioned. I say again that our debt is humanitarian and technical assistance to Pridnestrovie. We are grateful for the assistance that is provided by the Russian Federation. Regarding the debt between Gazprom and Moldovagaz you should have decided, not dragged it out, and then said on the basis of this: we, Moldovagaz, owe you nothing to Gazprom. This is called deception, technical deception. I say again that Moldova earned hundreds of millions of dollars a year from this gas on cheap energy. Have you at least calculated how much you will lose next? It would probably have been easier to pay off your debt obligations. This is what you should explain to your people.
In any case, gentlemen, I hope for common sense, common sense must prevail.
