Today, the briefing took place at the customs post located in the vicinity of Gyrbovets village, Novye Aneny district, dedicated to issues of migration flows registration and operation of territorial offices of the Bureau for Migration and Asylum with the participation of Pridnestrovian mass media. Deputy Chairperson of the Government of the PMR for International Cooperation, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the PMR Nina Shtanski commented on the situation connected with organization of migration flows control on the border with Pridnestrovie.
Nina Shtanski once again stressed there are all grounds to consider establishment of migration control points by Moldova as “a full point in the completion of equipment of a full-fledged border of Moldova with Pridnestrovie.” “We all know that any border has three essential elements of control: customs control, border control and migration control. As you know, customs control has been carried out by Moldova for a long time already. Migration control will be launched soon enough, and as you have seen, there are all appropriate conditions for this. As for the border control, Government of the Republic of Moldova has adopted a resolution on the beginning of work of specialized mobile border groups which according to this document will function along the perimeter of Moldova's border and on the territory of the whole Moldova,” the diplomat marked. According to the head of the Pridnestrovian MFA, the Moldovan side has all needed infrastructure to maintain any kind of control on the border with Pridnestrovie.
Nina Shtanski expressed concern about the fact that these actions were not coordinated with the Joint Control Commission. “Violation of these procedures is a very alarming precedent,” she marked. Apart from that, the Minister paid attention to the lacking information on how further collaboration with the JCC in terms of work of mobile border groups will be carried out. “The Government's Resolution of Moldova reads that they won't break regime of the Security Zone. To this end, however, the Joint Control Commission and Joint Military Command should at least be aware of what kind of groups they are, where they are located and who is in charge of them,” she stressed.
Nina Shtanski expressed opinion that functionality of migration posts is obviously regulated by domestic law of Moldova and can be changed and expanded. The diplomat stressed that in this context Pridnestrovie is waiting for clarity and certainty, first of all – regarding freedom of movement of Pridnestrovians. “Issue relating to freedom of movement has been in agenda of negotiations for already a year and a half. During this period we have received many assurances that the order introduced by Moldova will in no way affect Pridnestrovians residing in the Republic and holding passports of Ukraine, Russia and other states. Nina Shtanski pointed out, currently there is no official information proving that the Parliament adopted corresponding amendments to the code on administrative offences which were reported about by the Moldovan side several days ago. “Moreover, we are still unaware of the mechanism which will be used to distinguish between the foreigners and residents of Pridnestrovie,” she underlined. At the same time the Minister drew particular attention to the fact that the very first items of the government's resolution of the Republic of Moldova specify documentation of all citizens of Pridnestrovie as a priority which cannot but raise concern among Pridnestrovian representatives.
At the same time Nina Shtanski stressed that it is a sovereign right of the Republic of Moldova to arrange its own borders. However, if part of its state authorities is located in the Security Zone, then it is necessary to respect the joint mechanism of cooperation within the security area. Nina Shtanski stressed that in arranging the border interests of Pridnestrovians should be regarded. The diplomat paid attention that many countries having mutual borders manage to find mechanisms allowing their citizens to move freely. “After the Law on State Border of the PMR had been adopted, regime of admittance of the Moldovan citizens wasn't changed. No aggravation followed. Hence, we would also like to be informed by Moldova in an appropriate way. We need this clarity, but we don't have it today,” the diplomat summed up.
