On December 2, 2014 officer of the State Customs Committee of the PMR Subbotin Alexander Viktorovich (a citizen of Pridnestrovie, born in 1978) was detained while on duty in Dubossary District of Pridnestrovie – in the Security zone.
According to reports, the officer of the State Customs Committee of the PMR was told when detained that he was allegedly suspected of intentional acts prejudicial to the sovereignty, territorial integrity, national security and defense capability of the Republic of Moldova by providing assistance to a foreign state – the Russian Federation - in carrying out hostile activities against Moldova.
According to the information available to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PMR, the detainee is charged with the offenses referred to Article 337 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Moldova "high treason ". Mr. Subbotin previously received numerous summons to come to the law enforcement authorities of the Republic of Moldova.
We remind that more than 70 officials of Pridnestrovie are currently prosecuted in the territory of the neighbouring state on trumped up reason which only confirms the organized and coordinated nature of the current provocation against the legitimate representative of the Pridnestrovian state.
The Pridnestrovian side believes that the actions of the criminal prosecution of the PMR’s officials flagrantly violate the understanding reached in June, 2012 between the President of Pridnestrovie and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova about the synchronous closing of criminal cases against officials of the parties, and also provisions of the Protocol decision of September 16, 2013 signed by the political representatives of the parties in the development of high-level dialogue.
We remind that the Protocol decision provided for exchanging information within a month, systematizating and developing proposals on possible mechanisms for resolving the problem of criminal cases. However, its implementation was sabotaged by the Moldovan side who even refused to provide the full-scale information on the fact of criminal prosecution of the officials of Pridnestrovie on its territory. Instead, in 2014, prosecutorial authorities of the RM brought about 20 new criminal cases against the officials of the republic including the Prime Minister of the PMR, the Ministers of Internal Affairs and Agriculture and Natural Resources, Heads of the Supreme Court and local courts of Pridnestrovie, and other officials.
We consider the action of the Republic of Moldova towards the State Customs Committee officer as politically motivated and having an explicitly contract character which demonstrates deliberate provocation of senior officials of the Republic of Moldova probably seeking to foment conflict with unpredictable consequences for peace and stability in the Security zone, as well in the entire region.
We draw attention to the fact that about six hundred officials of the Republic of Moldova (including permanent residents) are in Pridnestrovie, both in the Security zone and outside it. Many of them are also citizens of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and in accordance with the current legislation they may be legally incriminated the crime constituting "high treason", as well deliberate actions aimed against the statehood of Pridnestrovie.
At the same time, guided by the peaceful attitudes and intention to conscientiously execute the international agreements regulating cooperation in the Security zone, the Pridnestrovian side has never made provocative and unfriendly steps of this kind.
There is reason to believe that the representatives of the Republic of Moldova have recently organized a series of hostile actions in order to escalate tension in the Security zone and provoke Pridnestrovie to make retaliatory actions, including the actions of armed character. It is confirmed by the intentional blocking border crossings by police officers of the RM, the attacking Pridnestrovie’s President by so-called "combatants" at the airport in Kishinev on November 10, 2014, the initiating a number of criminal cases against officials of the PMR in the current year.
Arresting the State Customs Committee officer in the Security zone on conceptually insane reason such as "high treason" considering the unsettled Moldo-Pridnestrovian conflict logically fit into the sharply hostile political line implemented by the Republic of Moldova which is aimed against Pridnestrovie and able to lead to irreparable consequences.
In this regard, Pridnestrovie address to its international partners in the "5 + 2" format a proposal to condemn the provocative actions of Moldovan structures in the Security zone. We believe that such actions deserve censure on the part of the international community.
Pridnestrovie offers to the Republic of Moldova to release immediately the officer of the State Customs Committee of the PMR. Otherwise, the Pridnestrovian side reserves the right to take proportionate measures to protect the citizens of the PMR.
We hope that the Moldovan capital recognizes the need for conflict-free dialogue and consultation in order to eliminate the existing contradictions, as well as the fact that the entire responsibility for the provocative actions will further fall to the current authorities of the Republic of Moldova.
Pridnestrovie confirms its invariable intention to counter extremism in all its forms, in the Security zone as well where a fragile peace is supported by the Joint Peacekeeping Forces of Russia, Pridnestrovie and Moldova, and to resolve any conflict exclusively through negotiations within the framework of existing formats and peaceful means.
The aim of Pridnestrovie is to achieve a truly good-neighborly relations and open, honest and equal cooperation, rather than provoking conflicts.
