In an interview with an RIA Novosti journalist, the PMR Foreign Minister spoke about the situation in Pridnestrovian economy amid pressure from Chisinau, the negotiation process and the role of the OSCE, as well as the peacekeeping mission on the Dniester
- Today, many experts say that Chisinau and Tiraspol are approaching the conflict escalation. In Moldova, Oleg Serebrian, Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration, says that negotiations with Pridnestrovie have reached a dead end, so Chisinau has shifted to making independent decisions. Does this suggest that Moldova may completely abandon negotiations with Pridnestrovie?
- Serebrian’s statement reveals the current shortsighted and fundamentally destructive logic of the Moldovan side. The Moldovan political representative no longer conceals his once secret designs, stating that the artificial deadlock in negotiations gives Chisinau carte blanche for unilateral repressive measures against the Pridnestrovian citizens.
Over the last years Pridnestrovie has been relentlessly warning international participants of the negotiation process that Moldova needs sabotaging the dialogue as a pretext for further pressure on Pridnestrovie. These statements can be perceived as a kind of political coming out of Serebrian. It provides an explanation of the Moldovan two-move scheme to break the negotiation mechanism and unleash the use of inhuman methods of pressure and mass violations of the rights of the citizens of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic.
As is known, the Moldovan side deliberately led the negotiations into stagnation, disrupting the Bratislava meeting of the 5+2 format in October 2019, avoiding under invented pretexts the work in the “Permanent Conference...”, year after year refusing to fulfil the agreements reached and sign new ones.
Refusal to negotiate is the path to confrontation. As long as the peacekeeping mission on the Dniester is functioning, the prerequisites for a political settlement remain in place, but Chisinau’s current position is alarming. Moreover, it is a blow to international efforts in the field of settlement. Just recently, the President of Pridnestrovie met with the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, during which we were offered assurances of commitment to exclusively peaceful negotiation methods for resolving problems. Thus, bringing Moldova back to normal work at the negotiating table is the task of not only Pridnestrovie, but other participants in the traditional international format as well. This is the only way to ensure a transparent and civilized process of relations settlement between the two states.
- Recently, OSCE Chairperson Ian Borg visited the banks of the Dniester. He noted that the 5+2 format is on halt, but the organization supports the operation of the 1+1 format. Tiraspol, however, has repeatedly stated that the 1+1 meetings of political representatives produce no results. What kind of dialogue is necessary for Tiraspol and Chisinau to get out of the stagnation in talks? What role can the OSCE play in this?
- Despite Chisinau’s position and acute geopolitical contradictions, the OSCE, including its field presence in Moldova, maintains contact with the parties and applies shuttle diplomacy methods. The Mission remains a technical platform for organizing meetings of political representatives and expert (working) groups.
However, the organization’s capabilities are limited, especially when Moldova refuses to engage in respectful dialogue and take decisions in the interests of the people. In this environment, the OSCE is unable to protect even its own investments in stability. For example, it has not yet been possible to resume the functioning of the VROs, suspended by Chisinau, to which the OSCE made a substantial financial, technical and expert contribution in 2018.
At a meeting with the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, the President of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic outlined a number of substantive initiatives, including a proposal to explore the possibility of holding an annual conference on confidence-building measures, traditionally organized by the OSCE, with a view to discussing banking and socio-economic problems. The OSCE Chairmanships rotate annually, and each year the Chairmanship decides for itself which tactics to choose – active, peace- and decision-oriented, or inert and passive. In the coming months, we will be able to assess the approaches of the Maltese diplomacy.
- Recently, Tiraspol reported that the largest engineering enterprise Electromash suspended its work due to the actions of Moldova. How does the Pridnestrovian industry operate today? Do other industries face the risk of being shut down?
- The case of Electromash is an example of how Moldova cynically violates the rights of the workers of this enterprise and ruins the industrial potential of Pridnestrovie. I would like to remind you that since last August the export of almost the entire volume of the plant’s output has been banned because it allegedly consists of dual-use goods. These are politicized claims masked by invented pretexts, as similar products were previously exported without any restrictions. Besides, household electric motors produced by the enterprise are not considered as strategic goods anywhere in the world, which is confirmed by consumers in Russia and EU countries, as well as in Central Asia. Accordingly, these products are not on the list of dual-use goods in Moldova itself, but the company’s cargoes continue to be blocked under false grounds.
Since September 2023, Electromash has submitted 82 applications to the Public Services Agency of RM for the supply of its products to the EU, CIS countries, Turkey, of which less than 10% have been approved. At the same time, both written assurances from the plant’s European and Asian partners and more than twenty of its applications to the leadership of RM were ignored. The reasoning for the refusal is always the same: “the issuance of an export authorization would harm the security and national interests of Moldova”. Political motives are more than obvious.
On 1 April, Electromash had to take a forced downtime. This is a real tragedy for about 600 workers of only one enterprise who were left without means of subsistence. All of them turned out to be hostages of inhuman politicized methods of Moldova, which in this way demonstrates its true attitude towards the Pridnestrovians.
Unfortunately, not only this plant is facing problems. As is known, other large industrial enterprises of the PMR, such as Moldavizolit and BZE Potential, also have difficulties in exporting their products. In total, about 1,500 employees of the enterprises were left without salaries.
In conditions when Moldova seeks to destroy the industrial and economic basis of our state, provokes impoverishment of the population and social instability, Pridnestrovie needs support more than ever.
- How does Pridnestrovie cope with the economic pressure from Moldova today after Chisinau imposed customs duties? Have prices for goods and services changed? In what way have the actions of Moldovan politicians impacted the welfare of Pridnestrovians?
- The customs duties imposed by Moldova from 1 January, contrary to the agreements of the negotiation process, have caused significant economic damage in just a few months. The statistics of the first quarter of 2024 records a decline in almost all sectors of industrial production in Pridnestrovie, a decrease in business activity and trade turnover, and an increase in inflation. The bank blockade largely multiplies the negative effect of customs duties. Pridnestrovian enterprises cannot open accounts in Moldova, and thus cannot obtain preferential certificates, including Euro-1, entitling them to duty-free import of goods.
According to experts, Pridnestrovie’s losses due to Moldovan duties this year may reach 33 million dollars. And this amount is a burden on all the citizens of the republic, who are forced to buy goods that have become more expensive because of Moldova’s actions.
Besides, by levying money from Pridnestrovian business, in fact toll, Moldova robs the Pridnestrovian budget, provoking underfinancing of the most important social articles. For instance, in January alone, about 13 million rubles were underfunded.
We should not forget about the problem with medicines. The authorities of the Republic of Moldova currently block the supply of about 60% of medicines that previously were freely imported into Pridnestrovie. Our pharmaceutical companies are forced to buy their analogues either in Europe or in Moldova at a much higher cost, which sparked a price hike and acute shortages of certain items. Another inhumane step of the Republic of Moldova is the continuing blockage of import of medical, in particular X-ray, equipment to Pridnestrovie.
Currently, pensions, allowances and salaries to public sector employees in Pridnestrovie are paid in full and on time. But the dynamics is negative, revenues to the republican budget are dropping, and if the current trends continue, we may soon be in a situation when the fulfilment of the state’s social obligations will be jeopardized.
- Moldovan Foreign Minister Mihai Popsoi has said in recent interviews that Russian troops in the region are hindering investment attraction. Chisinau insists with renewed vigor on the withdrawal of Russian troops and demilitarization of Pridnestrovie. How does Tiraspol assess these statements?
- I see no logic in this statement. Russian servicemen are in Pridnestrovie with the sole task of keeping peace on the banks of the Dniester. If now a neighboring state is having difficulties in attracting investment or in some other areas, blaming the Russian peacekeepers for this is an attempt, as they say, to lay their own fault at somebody else’s door.
As for Chisinau’s calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops and the reformation of the peacekeeping operation, as we have repeatedly emphasized, such issues can be discussed only after a final fair settlement of the Moldova-Pridnestrovie conflict and in no way prior to that. If the usual verbal speculations hide someone’s intention to unilaterally promote these issues, this is a dangerous way to create another “hot spot” on the map of Europe.
- Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu has stated that only Romanians live in Moldova, and he himself personally supports the idea of the two states’ unification. Not long ago a bill on military aid to Romanian citizens outside the country was presented in Bucharest. Will Romania be able to introduce troops into Moldova and what risks and threats does this pose to Pridnestrovie?
- Romania and Moldova have long been largely integrated at the level of citizenship, mentality, education and political governance. Large-scale infrastructure projects on interconnection of energy grids, gas pipelines, roads and bridges are being implemented, joint meetings of parliaments and governments are held, and ties are maintained at the level of parties and political elites. The Romanian language and Romanian history have been studied in Moldova for more than three decades, and there is no state border between the countries formalized by an international treaty.
Expansion of the Romanian Orthodox Church to Moldova is underway. Romanian emissaries control crucial state institutions in RM, act as high-level EU advisers, and head a number of EU missions in Moldova. Moreover, they are not just Romanian citizens, but former high-ranking officials with experience of state administration in their country. Thus, the development of the Moldovan territory by Romania and the transformation of the population’s identity have been taking place for a long time and with the full support of the Moldovan authorities.
As far as the military dimension is concerned, we hear about a variety of scenarios.
There are remarkable aspects in the logic of the Romanian Prime Minister. Bucharest justifies its stance towards Moldova by the fact that only Romanians live there. But Pridnestrovie is home to a multinational Pridnestrovian people with its own identity, its own values and aspirations, which sees no prospects for integration into the Romanian state either on the left or the right bank of the Prut. This fact instantly excludes the territory of our country from the “unirea” processes.
