The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PMR is deeply concerned about the detention of a group of young Russian scientists, flying to the city of Moscow after scientific expedition to the Republic of Moldova, Gagauzia and Pridnestrovie on February 1, 2015 at the airport of Kishinev.
The visit was aimed at gathering by the researchers from universities of the Russian Federation the necessary scientific information and materials that provide an objective perspective on the history and current developments in the wider regional space.
On January 29, 2015 as part of the scientific expedition, Russian scientists visited Pridnestrovie, where they held a series of meetings with scientific and social circles of the republic, as well as visited the historical, cultural and ethnographic objects.
However, the departure of the delegation of Russian scientists from the Kishinev Airport was unfortunately overshadowed by yet another sad incident. The full group of researchers was detained and subjected to a prolonged interrogation by border officials of the Republic of Moldova.
Particularly dismal is seen the fact that in the course of screening the members of the Russian delegation on the pretext of alleged Moldova ban on separate literature were confiscated the gift books published in Pridnestrovie. In particular, publications of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PMR “Topical Issues of the Pridnestrovian Foreign Policy” (the first edition and the second edition), as well as Activity book “Blockade of Pridnestrovie: survival instead of development. All the way between two fires”. These publications are public and are traditionally used by the Pridnestrovian side as presentation and information materials.
Such non-constructive actions of Moldovan officers raise concern and sincere misunderstanding of the Foreign Ministry of the PMR, which does not see any legal grounds for such approaches according to the generally accepted practice and existing international standards.
On the fact of the incident the PMR’s MFA sent a letter to the Moldovan side with a request to clarify the reasons for withdrawal of publications and in a proper way informed the participants of the “Permanent Conference” in the “5 + 2” format.
The delegation of the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office visited Pridnestrovie for the first time in 2015.
