President Yevgeny Shevchuk held a meeting with Acting Foreign Minister Vitaly Ignatiev and Co-Chairman of the Joint Control Commission from Pridnestrovie Oleg Belyakov. Issues related to the current situation in the Security Zone were a central theme of the meeting.
The head of state was informed about some details of the incidents that have occurred in the Security Zone recently. We remind that on 10 and 16 March this year representatives of the operational-investigative group from the Republic of Moldova detained the PMR’s citizens in Bendery and Slobodzeya. “Without consulting with the Pridnestrovian side, skirting the mechanisms of the Joint Control Commission, Moldovan police officers took unilateral efforts to apprehend and move Pridnestrovian citizens to the territory of the Republic of Moldova,” said Co-Chairman of the JCC Oleg Belyakov.
“We believe that these facts are extremely dangerous for the security, as they unilaterally violate previously concluded agreements. Such incidents lead to the destabilization of the situation in the Security Zone, create prerequisites for the force contact between the law enforcement agencies of Pridnestrovie and Moldova,” said the president. The head of state emphasized that the Pridnestrovian side has always aimed at constructive cooperation in the dialogue with its partners. “However, as you know, Moldova unilaterally withdrew its signature to the agreement on cooperation between the internal affairs bodies of the PMR and Moldova. They destroyed the mechanism by themselves, it was a tool for interaction in order to search, apprehend, transfer criminal elements to each other,” said Yevgeny Shevchuk.
The meeting noted that the actions of the RM’s law enforcement bodies are a direct restriction of the inalienable rights and freedoms of Pridnestrovians, directly threaten their personal safety. “The citizens of Pridnestrovie were abducted in violation of the 1992 Agreement, without notifying Pridnestrovian representatives of internal affairs bodies in the framework of the joint operational investigative group,” said Acting Foreign Minister Vitaly Ignatiev.
The President has given the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a task to use all possible political and diplomatic mechanisms for ensuring the rights and interests of the citizens of PMR and for returning them to Pridnestrovie. “It is unacceptable to act outside the framework of the agreements. Pridnestrovian citizens are under the protection of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. We demand that the Moldovan side inform us about the place where our citizens are, to provide full information, to inform about the reasons for their detention, and why they were detained in violation of the order established in Pridnestrovie,” stressed the head of state. In addition, the president gave an assignment to the Foreign Ministry of the PMR to inform the OSCE representatives which are also involved in the work of the JCC about the incidents occurred in the Security Zone.
During the meeting Vitaly Ignatiev paid special attention to the fact that the Moldovan side tries to politicize the peacemaking process. “Moldovan colleagues sabotage the substantive work at the level of JCC, refuse to discuss the working agenda. At the same time, the political representatives of the Republic of Moldova try to interpose issues of the peacekeeping operation and the situation in the Security Zone in the context of the dialogue at the level of the negotiation process. We think that this is an unacceptable approach that does not meet the mandate of representatives on political issues of the parties, their goals and objectives,” said Vitaly Ignatiev.
In general, as Co-Chairman of the Joint Control Commission Oleg Belyakov reported to the president, the situation in the Security Zone is still under the control of the Joint peacekeeping forces. “The reports of the Joint Military Command state very clearly that peace is maintained in full, there is no any signs of preparations for combat operations in the Security Zone to date,” said Oleg Belyakov.
“We have always been interested in the fact that all the instruments of the peacekeeping operation work in full. Despite the fact that there are different positions on a number of issues, there is a need to perform the previously signed agreements so that the peace and tranquility in the Security Zone to be supported by the tools that are aimed at addressing these very specific problems,” emphasized the head of state.
The head of the Foreign Ministry Vitaly Ignatiev also informed the president about the current situation in the negotiation process, the dynamics of contacts of representatives on political issues and the prospects for holding meetings of expert (working) groups to discuss the most problematic issues.
Source: the website of the PMR President
