Vitaly Ignatiev participated in the international conference organized by the State University, dedicated to the launching of the political negotiation process, with a lecture: “A 30-year Experience of the Negotiation Process between the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and the Republic of Moldova: Retrospective and Current Problems”.
On 28 April 1994, Presidents Igor Smirnov and Mircea Snegur, having signed a statement to this effect, agreed, without preconditions, to open a negotiation process on the whole range of issues of mutual interest. The document is rightly regarded as the starting point of political dialogue between the parties to the conflict.
Having emphasized Russia’s contribution to ending the war on the Dniester and the special importance of the trilateral peacekeeping mission, which creates conditions and prerequisites for the negotiation process by diplomatic means, the Minister gave a detailed retrospective of 30 years of dialogue, highlighted its main stages, spoke about various plans for a peaceful settlement and described the current situation in the Moldova-Pridnestrovie relations.
In his report, Vitaly Ignatiev referred to the agreements signed by the parties in the 1990s, the internationalization of the negotiations virtually since their inception, and also provided his own assessment of how the approaches of mediators and observers in the 5+2 format have transformed. The Minister spoke about the intensification of direct contacts at the level of the Presidents of the two republics in 2001, which fostered a number of significant agreements. Yet, a crisis in the dialogue quickly followed due to the actions of the Moldovan leadership. He outlined the content of the peace plans proposed in the early 2000s by Russia, the OSCE and Ukraine, described the circumstances of the joint constitutional commission and the launch of the “Permanent Conference...” in the “3+2 Bratislava format”.
Vitaly Ignatiev recalled Moldova’s withdrawal from the negotiation process in early 2006 following the adoption of the odious law on the so-called “special status” and the imposition of an export blockade of Pridnestrovian enterprises by Moldova. At the same time, it was emphasized that Chisinau was forced to return to the negotiating table and participate in the implementation of the agreed “small steps” approach, which helped approve the principles and procedures for conducting negotiations, the official agenda and adopt a number of necessary decisions on sectoral issues.
In June 2016, the parties signed the “Berlin Protocol”, the implementation of which in 2017-2018 contributed to the opening of traffic on the bridge near the village of Bychok, the functioning of Moldovan schools, the apostilling of Pridnestrovian diplomas, the achievement of agreements in telecommunications, land use in the Dubossary district of the PMR and the participation of Pridnestrovian cars in international road traffic.
However, referring to the disrupted meeting of the 5+2 format in Bratislava in October 2019 by the Moldovan political representative, Vitaly Ignatiev noted that later on Moldovan authorities either refused or forgot many of their commitments. Pridnestrovie is currently facing Chisinau’s sanctions, repression and blackmail. Restrictions have been imposed on the supply of medicines and medical equipment to Pridnestrovie, and industrial exports are blocked. Negotiations have been frozen for the fifth year in a row.
“The current stage of negotiations, I would call it an artificial coma, started in 2019 and continues today. The resumption of dialogue cannot be ruled out. As long as there is a conflict, there is no civilized, adequate, sane and mutually beneficial alternative to a peaceful dialogue,” Vitaly Ignatiev said.
The Minister provided detailed answers to the questions of the audience, wished the students to continue their self-improvement and to strengthen their statecraft core while working for the benefit of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic.
