Yesterday, on May 21, 2015, the director of the Dniester-Prut Centre of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies was detained at the airport in Kishinev and then deported to the Russian Federation.
The RISS representative arrived in Kishinev with the night flight SU 1844 at 23.35 from Moscow. While he was passing through the passport control, the officials of the border police of the Republic of Moldova informed him that his name was included into an “electronic database” of those who are forbidden to enter Moldova for the reason of national security threat. The RISS employee was informed that entrance to Russia was closed for him for 5 years, and thereafter he was sent to Russia on the next flight. Sergey Mokshantsev planned to come to Pridnestrovie to attend the prize distribution ceremony and to award the Pridnestrovian children – the winners of the competitions carried out by DPC RISS in cooperation with the Ministry of Education of the PMR.
It is important to pay attention to the fact that earlier, as it was said by S. Mokshantsev, almost every visit of the DPC RISS employees was accompanied by the “demonstration of force”: the intensified inspection, examination and “inquiries” on the part of the representatives of the border police and the Information and Security Service of the Republic of Moldova.
What is also notable is that S. Mokshantsev’s deportation “coincided” with the late time of arrival of the RISS representative. Therefore, the undertaken during the incident attempts to contact the competent authorities of the Republic of Moldova, through the Russian Embassy also, were expectedly not successful.
Let us remind that on October 12, 2014 the Deputy Director of the Dniestr-Prut Centre of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies V. Kashirin was detained at the airport in Kishinev and then deported to the Russian Federation. The detainment and deportation of the RISS employee were accompanied by numerous violations of a whole range of international and bilateral (Russia-Moldova) documents as well as of the agreements reached during the negotiation process between Pridnestrovie and Moldova.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PMR considers this resonant incident of deportation of the representative of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies as an intentional demonstrational step of the authorities of the Republic of Moldova towards the destabilization of the bilateral relations not only with Pridnestrovie, but also with the Russian Federation. It is necessary to underline that the activity of the Dniestr-Prut Centre of the RISS is traditionally focused on the implementation of significant social, cultural and scientific-educational projects in Pridnestrovie, and thus is not only pronouncedly depoliticized, but also is generally focused in the first place on the enhancing social well-being of Pridnestrovian citizens. In this context it goes without a doubt that the pressure exerted by the Republic of Moldova on the RISS representatives, eventually aims to worsen the social-economic situation in Pridnestrovie what, in its turn, corresponds to the chosen by Kishinev strategies of a complex and gradual strangle of Pridnestrovie by the methods of blockade, repressions and threats.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PMR considers the chosen by the Republic of Moldova model of behavior in all the spheres of relations with Pridnestrovie ultra destructive, aimed at the destructing the fundamental base of the Moldo-Pridnestrovian settlement. We cannot ignore the fact that the Moldovan side has been intentionally increasing the tension between the sides during a short period of time. In this context the Foreign Ministry of Pridnestrovie warns Moldovan partners against the further pressure increasing on Pridnestrovie and emphasizes that such destructive one-sided steps lead to escalation of tension which can result in the extremely negative consequences not only for the sides’ relations, but also for the situation in the whole region.
