The Press Service of the Foreign Ministry of the PMR attentively got acquainted with a number of theses voiced by the Representative on Political Issues of the Republic of Moldova Victor Osipov on a Moldovan TV channel.
As the Press Service of the Foreign Ministry of the PMR previously reported, the Pridnestrovian side had sent letters to the heads of diplomatic missions accredited in Kishinev, where it had informed the international partners about the deterioration of the socio-economic situation in Pridnestrovie and possible developments in view of the continuing pressure on the republic by Moldova and Ukraine. Moldova’s political representative made an attempt to comment on the content of those letters which allegedly had not been sent to the Moldovan side, according to him. In this case, in the opinion of the Press Service of the Foreign Ministry of Pridnestrovie, the comments by Moldova’s political representative regarding someone’s correspondence are, in fact, a violation of diplomatic etiquette and are contrary to the moral and ethical foundations.
The Pridnestrovian Foreign Ministry’s Press Service does not consider it possible to comment on personal attacks of Moldova’s representative, but it notes that when there is not enough arguments and knowledge in a dialogue the personal attacks confirms the vulnerability of the position.
As to the substance of statements of the political representatives of Moldova, we attentively perceived his declaration on the alleged lack of interest of Kishinev in bringing the situation in Pridnestrovie to a social crisis that could “create a background for military escalation, theft and banditry outburst”. The Pridnestrovian side has repeatedly informed all the participants in the negotiations and especially the Moldovan side that the coordinated actions of Moldova and Ukraine to strengthen the blockade, the discriminatory regime in respect of Pridnestrovie’s economy and the citizens of Pridnestrovie, on the contrary, lead to the deterioration of the socio-economic situation in the country, the growth of social tensions. It is known throughout the world that one of the factors of worsening crime situation is a decline in population's welfare level. Meanwhile, we are confident that our Moldovan partner is aware that the crime rate in Pridnestrovie is significantly lower than in neighbouring Moldova and the neighbouring regions of Ukraine, and as for a number of resonant crimes committed on the territory of Moldova and Ukraine, the capture of criminals was achieved thanks to the assistance of the Pridnestrovian law enforcement bodies.
In turn, the blocking actions of Moldova and Ukraine changing transport corridors, the rules of foreign trade activity lead to negative consequences such as, in particular, the increasing poverty which is well known and obvious. At the same time the attempts to impose the Moldovan legislation to the economic entities of Pridnestrovie outside the framework of the reached agreements of negotiation process have the growing dynamics. Therefore, the “astonishment” of the Moldovan side at some assessments indicated in the diplomatic correspondence intended for restricted use seems unreasoned.
In particular, the attention of our Moldovan partners was drawn to the negative impact of these unilateral measures of Moldovan authorities: the denial and threats of refusal to issue documents for the implementation of foreign trade activities to Pridnestrovian enterprises, as well as phytosanitary certificates for agricultural products, planned to be exported from Pridnestrovie to Russia through Ukraine; the introduction of discriminatory rules of foreign trade activities; the requirements to keep the records in the Romanian language; politically motivated prosecution of representatives of economic entities of the republic and officials of the PMR.
As a result, among other things, of these actions in addition to regional economic instability, foreign trade turnover of Pridnestrovie in January-May 2015 compared to the same period in 2014 decreased by 24%, including export - by 23%. The factor of deterioration of the situation is also unilateral decisions of Ukraine to close a number of checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Pridnestrovian border without taking into account the basic documents of the negotiation process, international norms and rules, and the initially taking the decision of 2006 to block Pridnestrovian exports allowed the Republic of Moldova to change the rules of foreign trade activity for Pridnestrovian economic agents on a regular basis.
The Press Service of the Foreign Ministry of the PMR pays attention to the fact that for three years the Pridnestrovian side has made in many times more initiatives and concrete proposals in the negotiation process. However, the Moldovan side through the political representative of the Republic of Moldova seems to try once again to shift responsibility for the deterioration of bilateral relations to Pridnestrovie, roughly distorting the real facts which, no doubt, are well known to the Moldovan side.
In our opinion, this practice of a number of Moldovan officials, especially during periods when the Government of the Republic of Moldova is in the status of temporary acting, just distances the sides from the practical cooperation aimed at resolving existing problems. We propose to avoid the steps explicitly included in the arsenal of sanctions, blockades, discrimination and created conditions for the destruction of the existing negotiating mechanisms. We call on the Moldovan side to return to the constructive specific decisions, to move from declarations to positive mutually agreeable actions for the benefit of citizens and the economy of both sides.
Pridnestrovie is ready to continue the dialogue within the framework of the tactics of “small steps” mutually agreed by the sides earlier and supported by all participants of the “5+2” format, but without unfriendly unilateral actions and attempts at the economic dictate and blackmail. We propose in the framework of the commitments made in the negotiation process to transform declarations into practical mutually acceptable agreements for the benefit of the people of Pridnestrovie and Moldova.
