Today, Foreign Minister Vitaly Ignatiev took part via video link in the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Peacemaking as an Instrument of Reconciliation Policy: A Positive and Negative Experience” hosted by the Russian State University for the Humanities.
The event was organized by RSUH jointly with the Russkiy Mir Foundation. The conference brought together diplomats who used to be involved in peace operations, military personnel with peacekeeping experience, university professors and analysts who study peacemaking.
In his speech, the PMR Foreign Minister focused on the peacekeeping operation on the Dniester, stressing that Russian peacekeepers played a decisive role in ending the bloodshed during Moldova’s armed aggression against the PMR in 1992 and returning Pridnestrovie to peaceful life. According to him, the mission implemented under the auspices of the Russian Federation for three decades has impeccable legal framework and has long proven its unique efficiency in maintaining sustainable peace and stability across the region.
Vitaly Ignatiev noted in particular that the ongoing operation has never witnessed a single clash between the parties or any human casualty, and also pointed to an exceptionally positive attitude of the Pridnestrovian population to the presence of the Russian peacekeeping contingent which is viewed as a key security guarantee.
Along with that, the Minister noted the comprehensive efforts of the Republic of Moldova aimed at discrediting Russia’s peacekeeping presence on the Dniester, its attempts to unilaterally block the work of the peacekeeping mechanism and provoke its replacement with some kind of civilian observer mission. In his opinion, regular attacks on the peacekeeping operation are especially dangerous in the conditions of Moldova’s militarization and military development of its territory by the North Atlantic Alliance. In this context, the Minister pointed to the Moldova-NATO strategic partnership, three Alliance centers functioning on the territory of Moldova, the presence of foreign military advisers, the elaboration of a joint defense space between the Republic of Moldova and Romania as a NATO member, as well as the signing of an individual partnership plan with the bloc.
The Minister concluded that amidst the unresolved Moldovan-Pridnestrovian conflict and pressing challenges in the field of regional security, there is no alternative to the peacekeeping operation on the Dniester as the only reliable guarantee of preserving peace and stability in Pridnestrovie.
