The Foreign Ministry hosted a meeting of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the PMR Vitaly Ignatiev with the Russian human rights activist, expert of the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights Oleg Ivannikov.
Welcoming the guest, Vitaly Ignatiev positively assessed the systemic attention of public human rights organizations of the Russian Federation to the situation in Pridnestrovie. “I hope that your monitoring visit aimed at obtaining first-hand information and studying the situation on the spot, as well as aimed at effecting an expert analysis, will become an important contribution to formulating a vision of what actual problems are there in terms of protecting the rights and interests of the population of Pridnestrovie, and how to solve them by means of international mechanisms and resources that human rights organizations do possess,” the Minister noted.
During the meeting, the Head of the PMR Foreign Ministry told the interlocutor about the costs and limitations the residents of Pridnestrovie face due to the unsettled relationship with the Republic of Moldova and about the failure of the latter to fulfill agreements reached within the negotiation process. The diplomat informed about the existing problems in the field of freedom of movement, interbank interaction, import of goods to the PMR. Separately, risks were outlined as to threats of introducing the so-called "Second Phase" of Joint Customs and Border Control at the Kuchurgany checkpoint and as well the threat to ban the entry to Ukraine for vehicles with Pridnestrovian numbers plates starting with September 1.
In this context, a discussion on practical steps aimed at strengthening work in terms of observing the legal rights and interests of Russian citizens and compatriots living in Pridnestrovie, was held.
“I have been working in the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Respublic for three days already. During this time, I met with representatives of the PMR state authorities, heads of the Prosecutor's Office, of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and of the Supreme Court. I have collected certain information, which will later be processed by specialists from the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights and will be included in the collection, where we will indicate all those flashy moments that need to be paid attention to. We believe that since 2014, there has been tremendous pressure on the PMR which is akin to a kind of genocide. We suggest contacting international institutions, the United Nations, the European Court of Human Rights,” Oleg Ivannikov said.
In turn, Vitaly Ignatiev expressed the opinion that working with experts from the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights will create additional opportunities to ensure the rights of citizens of the PMR. “Human rights are universal and there is not a single political motivation not to tackle these problems. We must not forget that behind every letter, behind every line of the agreement, there lay the interests of specific people. When we restarted the negotiation process and signed the Berlin Protocol, we said that the principle of the population’s interests is at the forefront. Today it is rudely trampled by the Moldovan side and that is unacceptable,” the Minister said.
