2024-02-28 17:45:29
Mystery and tension have marked this Wednesday’s meeting of pro-Russian separatist politicians in the ex-Soviet enclave of Transnistria, internationally recognized as part of Moldova, in which they have demanded protection from Russia in the face of “growing pressure” from the Moldovan government. The president of Transnistria, Vadim Krasnoselski, had summoned all the elected authorities of the rebel region to a congress with the intention of joining forces and raising their voices against the new economic measures imposed in January by the Moldovan rulers. The holding of this political forum, the seventh of its kind since the unilateral proclamation of independence in 1990 – it has only been resorted to in important moments such as the request to integrate into Russia after a referendum in 2006, which Moscow never recognized – generated fears among the Moldovan and Ukrainian authorities in the event that Transnistria would once again request accession to the Russian Federation.
Finally, in a joint statement, the secessionists have urged the Federation Council (Upper House) and the State Duma (Lower House) of Russia, which will meet this Thursday, to “implement protective measures for Transnistria in the face of growing pressure for part of the Republic of Moldova”. The text highlights that more than 220,000 Russians live in the region, which has been de facto independent for more than three decades (around half of the population), and that Russia participates in the peace mission in the region, in addition to being guarantor and mediator in the negotiation process. While Ukraine continues to defend itself from the Russian attack, Russia maintains 500 soldiers in Transnistria deployed at various checkpoints as peacekeepers and another 1,500 belonging to the Operational Group of Russian Troops (GOTR), heir to the Soviet 14th Guards Army.
The Transnistrian separatists also entrusted during the congress to the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, to take into account “the inalienable rights of the people of Transnistria guaranteed by international standards, and to prevent the neighboring Republic of Moldova from violating the rights and freedoms of the citizens of Transnistria and prevent challenges that lead to an escalation of tensions.” They even appealed to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and other organizations to put pressure on Moldova’s leaders to “return to a rational dialogue within the framework of the international negotiation process and create conditions for a civilized solution to the conflict.”
The Transnistrian leaders loaded their speeches with harsh diatribes against the Government in Chisinau, as a way of paving the way for Russia to help them, through a possible future annexation. The Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic, as it calls itself, “will persistently fight for its own identity, the rights and interests of the people and will not give up their protection, despite any form of blackmail and external pressure,” Krasnoelski declared in his address to about 600 attendees. “A policy of genocide is being applied against Transnistria,” cried the president, who listed four alleged “signals in the last 30 years: economic strangulation, the physical destruction of the people, the denial of legal protection and an attempt to implement by “forces the language.”
economic war
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The leader of the small breakaway region also accused Moldova of launching an economic war by “deliberately creating the preconditions for a multimillion-dollar budget deficit.” However, Moldova emphasizes that Transnistria’s international commercial activity is carried out under the same conditions as the rest of Moldovan trade. The region, wedged between a narrow strip along the Dniester River and Ukraine, enjoyed tax privileges that Chisinau granted it as a form of seduction to reintegrate it. Krasnoselski also regretted this Wednesday that “Moldova seeks to destroy the health system of Transnistria, blocking the supply of medicines and medical equipment” and that the Moldovan authorities adopted a law on separatism, which “creates the preconditions for criminal prosecution of all citizens of Transnistria.”
Following the resolution adopted by the Transnistrian deputies, the Deputy Prime Minister for the Reintegration of Moldova, Oleg Serebrian, rejected “the propaganda statements coming from Tiraspol [capital de Transnistria] and assured that the rebel region “benefits from the policies of peace, security and economic integration with the European Union, advantageous for all citizens, both those on the left and right banks of the Dniester.” Chisinau insists that the objective of the congress was to provoke hysteria among society and that there is no risk of destabilizing the situation in Transnistria.
The size of the Spanish province of La Rioja, the rebel autonomous territory officially has half a million inhabitants, although it is estimated that the real population figure is much lower, since many inhabitants have emigrated to Russia and other surrounding countries. The Sheriff business conglomerate, which has gas stations, supermarkets, telecommunications, energy, alcohol and steel, as well as the main football club, underpins political and economic life in Transnistria. The metallurgical plant in the municipality of Rabnita, located about 120 kilometers from Tiraspol, close to the Ukrainian border, represents almost half of the budget of the separatist authorities. Their benefits come from the low production cost due to the minuscule price they pay for gas.
Moldova, a firm ally of Ukraine, has been advocating for decades reunification with Transnistria, de facto separated after the 1992 war that caused more than a thousand deaths. Chisinau has repeatedly demanded in recent months the withdrawal of Russian troops from the region, as well as the tens of thousands of tons of Soviet weapons stored in the area.
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