Today, a meeting between Deputy Prime Minister of the PMR for International Cooperation, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nina Shtanski and Ambassador at Large of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sergey Gubarev was held at the PMR's MFA.
At the meeting the interlocutors focused on the issues related to the current situation in the relations between Moldova and Pridnestrovie.
Nina Shtanski drew the Russian side’s attention to the rapid deterioration of the situation in the dialogue between Pridnestrovie and Moldova conditioned by a number of new unfriendly steps of the Republic of Moldova. In particular, the diplomat stated that the situation in politically motivated criminal cases against the authorities, businessmen and ordinary citizens of Pridnestrovie is quickly degraded. She said that almost every week Moldovan mass media report about the opening of new criminal cases against Pridnestrovians, at that the Moldovan side persistently evades official informing the representatives of Pridnestrovie on the actual number of criminal cases. In addition, the Foreign Minister stressed that today there are facts of detention of citizens of Pridnestrovie abroad whom Moldova declared wanted within the criminal prosecution for political reasons. In that regard, Nina Shtanski emphasized that the position of the Moldovan side on the matter is inconsistent.
Continuing to discuss the topic of restrictions on the rights of Pridnestrovians by the Republic of Moldova, the Minister spoke about some of the facts of deportation of citizens of Pridnestrovie at the airport in Kishinev. As she said, the Pridnestrovian side is particularly concerned that to date there are cases of deportation from Kishinev Russian citizens permanently residing in Pridnestrovie. The diplomat highlighted that the growth of this problem will have extremely detrimental impact on the Moldovan-Pridnestrovian dialogue.
According to Nina Shtanski, no less negative impact on the relations between the parties, as well as on the overall regional stability can be exerted by new steps of the Republic of Moldova taken to restrict freedom of movement of Pridnestrovians. The Foreign Minister said Moldova’s decision to ban vehicles with Pridnestrovian registration moving through the Moldovan-Ukrainian border has already very negative impact on the socio-economic well-being of the citizens of Pridnestrovie. The diplomat expressed hope that the Moldovan side is aware of its responsibility for the possible consequences of the expansion of such restrictions in the near future, as a result of which the Pridnestrovian side will be forced to consider taking response measures.
The meeting also exchanged views on some discriminatory measures against Pridnestrovie’s economy applied by neighbouring states. The subject of the discussion was also the situation in freight rail traffic through Pridnestrovie on the road section “Rybnitsa-Sloboka.”
During the visit to Pridnestrovie, Ambassador at Large of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sergey Gubarev also met with President of the PMR Yevgeny Shevchuk today.
