Tiraspol, 4 December. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. The 11th European Russian Forum was held on 3-4 December in European Parliament, Brussels. Its main topic this year was “EU 2017 and Russian Revolution 1917: lessons not learned well”. Pridnestrovie was represented by deputy speaker of the Supreme Council Galina Antyfeyeva and foreign minister Vitaly Ignatyev, the MFA's press service reports.
Among forum participants were prominent Russian and European politicians, diplomats and experts, including Russia's ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov, foreign minister of South Ossetia Dmitry Medoyev, Russian MPs Olga Timofeyeva, Vyacheslav Nikonov, Konstantin Zatulin, as well as a number of European Parliament members.
Vitaly Ignatyev made a speech at the panel session "Self-Determination of Nations: from 1917 to 2017.” The diplomat elaborated on the historical and legal grounds for Pridnestrovie's independence, noting that the directive unification of the Moldavian Autonomous SSR and Bessarabia in 1940 had laid the foundations for a break-away which had occurred during the USSR's collapse when the Moldavian parliament had in fact renounced Pridnestrovie. According to the minister, the differences between Pridnestrovie and Moldova that have emerged throughout these years are ideological and fundamental.
"If Moldova was swept by the wave of aggressive nationalism and anti-Soviet hysteria amid the USSR's collapse, Pridnestrovie, on the contrary, sought to preserve itself as part of the Soviet Union and proclaimed equality of languages and nationalities," said Ignatyev in his speech, maintaining that under such conditions the only way to preserve peace in Pridnestrovie was its own independence.
Recalling that in 1990 Moldova had actually withdrawn not only from the USSR but also from the MSSR, Ignatyev emphasised that "the process of the USSR's dissolution has not been completed until Pridnestrovie obtains the legal recognition of its de facto independence at the international level."
"If the inalienable right of Pridnestrovians to self-determination had been taken into consideration by the international community and Moldova, I'm convinced that the conflict would have long been exhausted," he said.
Galina Antyfeyeva, in turn, took part in the roundtable discussion "The Conflict Between the West and Russia: the year of 2017". She spoke about the influence of the geopolitical confrontation between Russia and the West on the situation surrounding Pridnestrovie, as well as about the foreign policy guidelines of Pridnestrovie.
In the framework of the visit, the Pridnestrovian delegation will also hold a number of working meetings in Brussels.
The European Russian Forum is an annual event organised by the European Russian Alliance at the initiative of its chairman, European MP Tatyana Zhdanyuk. The forum is intended to serve as a multilateral platform for a non-governmental dialogue between Russia and the EU.
