The Ministry of Foreign Affairs got acquainted with the information that starting from September 1 current year, Ukraine plans to introduce a movement ban on its territory for vehicles registered in the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic; an exception would make vehicles with neutral license plates.
Recall, similar intentions have been repeatedly voiced earlier. However, taking into account the real situation in this area, international participants (the Ukrainian side inclusively) have demonstrated an objective understanding of the situation, being guided by invariably balanced approaches.
As already know, the mechanism for registering neutral license plates that was agreed in 2018 is of a limited nature since due to the obstacles created by Moldova, it does not allow all categories of Pridnestrovian citizens to participate in international traffic and excludes as well freight and passenger vehicles. These problems are of a specific nature and have now been formalized by the OSCE Mission in an appropriate document which is part of the current negotiation process agenda.
We proceed from a universal understanding of the need to solve any kind of problems exclusively at the negotiating table. The use of such restrictive measures has no grounds in the absence of a capable alternative that would allow any Pridnestrovian citizen taking part in the international road traffic. These measures contradict the negotiation process principles and are fraught with violating Pridnestrovians’ rights and freedoms, here about one hundred thousand Ukrainian citizens to be included as well.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue interacting with international participants in the negotiation process to prevent crisis scenarios. Along with, we would welcome the Ukrainian side’s constructive mediation efforts intensification to achieve a comprehensive settlement on the existing problems within the transport area.
