Presentation of the publication “Instruments to put pressure on Pridnestrovie in Moldovan-Pridnestrovian settlement: a politically motivated prosecution of Pridnestrovian citizens by Moldova” was held today at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pridnestrovie. The event was attended by Acting Foreign Minister of the PMR Vitaly Ignatiev, Deputy Foreign Minister of the PMR Dmitry Palamarchuk, First Deputy Prosecutor of the PMR Alexander Radchenko, First Deputy Chairman of the Investigation Committee of the PMR Vasily Kovach, Head of the Supreme Council of the PMR Sergei Belous, and member of the Pridnestrovian delegation in the Joint Control Commission - Head of Department for Organisation and Inspection of the Ministry for Internal Affairs of the PMR Konstantin Kalinyonok.
During the welcoming speech Acting Foreign Minister Vitaly Ignatiev noted the extremely acute nature of the problematic issue of politically motivated prosecutions against Pridnestrovian citizens, which, according to him, is “one of the blows dealt by the Republic of Moldova at the process of peaceful dialogue and political settlement within the framework of constructive negotiation paradigm.” The diplomat emphasized that the initiation of criminal cases against Pridnestrovians was like an avalanche for the past two years.
“It is obvious that the small steps tactics has proven to be successful in the negotiation process, and the Moldovan side found nothing better than to return to the old methods of direct pressure, including personal pressure, not only on Pridnestrovian citizens, law enforcement and security representatives of the PMR, but also on the participants in the negotiation process, directly to the people who run specialized expert (working) groups or are involved in their work. In recent times, criminal cases were initiated against the entrepreneurs of Pridnestrovie, which expanded the range of the “target group”, which falls under the Moldovan side’s pressure,” said the head of the Foreign Ministry.
According to Vitaly Ignatiev, politically motivated criminal cases in fact are intended to put “handcuffs” on the Pridnestrovian side and they are Moldova’s attempt to “torpedo the normal dialogue, to disguise the lack of ability to negotiate and unwillingness to interact constructively on a whole range of issues.”
In the course of the event, Deputy Foreign Minister Dmitry Palamarchuk made a brief presentation of the new edition of the PMR MFA, emphasized that the book is specialized and contains a large amount of factual material about the negotiations on criminal cases. The diplomat noted that such a vast information array gives readers an opportunity to draw conclusions by themselves, to understand the overall situation and the nature of the dialogue on this sensitive issue.
“The book reflects the retrospective of the events preceding the beginning of discussions on how to address the matter on criminal cases. There is sufficiently detailed description of the discussions that took place during the last ten years, information about the meetings held, about the positions and proposals that were put forward by the parties, declarations of responsible persons. In the book there are a lot of documentary and photographic materials, it was translated into English,” said Dmitry Palamarchuk.
According to the Deputy Foreign Minister, the existence of the factor of politically motivated prosecutions of Pridnestrovian citizens is a significant obstacle for conducting mutually respectful and parity dialogue with Moldova in the framework of existing formats. The diplomat thinks that the Moldovan side, in fact, “turns measures of confidence-building into measures of building pressure on Pridnestrovie.”
“From the point of view of the PMR Foreign Ministry, criminal prosecution of Pridnestrovian citizens in Moldova is an illegitimate attempt of Moldovan authorities to put psychological pressure on Pridnestrovians, so that they waive their right to freedom of thought and opinion. The Moldovan authorities’ efforts are focused on the fact that using the most primitive methods of force to prevent the right of Pridnestrovians to determine their own destiny, to make them feel uncomfortable because of our identity, the value and identity choice. This approach just reveals a lack of realistic arguments and the settlement paradigm in the political establishment of neighbouring Moldova, demonstrates its permanent inability to negotiate and uncertainty in the correctness of the decisions made and promoted that is only confirmed by the continuing practice of evading meetings at various dialogue platforms,” concluded the Deputy Minister.
During the event invited experts - representatives of public authorities expressed their assessments and views on the issue of politically motivated criminal cases against the PMR citizens. At the end of presentation the participants answered journalists’ questions.
