Vitaly Ignatiev was the guest of the morning broadcast on Radio 1

In an interview with the hosts Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the PMR touched upon the issues on external pressure put on Pridnestrovie, as well as the current situation in the negotiation process with the Republic of Moldova.

As Vitaly Ignatiev noted, a set of restrictive measures was applied against the republic last year. “Indeed we can say that Pridnestrovie was subjected to a massive attack from the outside, it is reflected at different levels. This is primarily the activation of criminal prosecution and administrative pressure on Pridnestrovians, representatives of state authorities. Unfortunately, this barrage of criminal cases does not stop, and already in 2016 we witnessed another criminal case against our citizen,” the diplomat said.

He drew attention to the fact that the pressure on Pridnestrovie is put not only on the part of Moldova, but Ukraine. In this context he mentioned the restrictions imposed by Ukraine on imports of excisable goods to the territory of Pridnestrovie, Moldova’s ban on crossing Moldovan-Ukrainian border for Pridnestrovan vehicles, on which later in the framework of diplomatic work it became possible to impose a moratorium.

According to the head of the ministry, a number of hard in economic terms restrictive measures adopted outside the framework of the negotiation process are especially worrisome. This, in particular, is the unilateral change by Moldova and Ukraine of the mechanism of delivery of imported goods to Pridnestrovie by rail, which can entail a loss of more than 4.5 million dollars during a year, and the intention to establish a joint customs and border control at the checkpoint Kuchurgan.

“It's exclusively a political solution, which aims at the total integrated restriction and control over the entire foreign trade turnover of Pridnestrovie. Therefore, we say that this is potentially one of probably the most powerful measure to put pressure on Pridnestrovie, which can cause irreparable damage to our economy,” said Vitaly Ignatiev. He added that the Pridnestrovian side officially addressed to all participants in the negotiation process with the request to take all necessary steps to impede the implementation of this discriminatory decision.

Responding to hosts’ question about the trade regime with the European Union, the head of the ministry said that the agreement on the optimal trade mechanism with the EU became one of the most significant achievements of the political and economic nature. It did not only make it possible to avoid catastrophic scenarios of the development of economy of the PMR, but also reaffirmed the validity of requirements of the Pridnestrovian side. “Any decisions that are taken without our participation, without taking into account the opinions of our economic agents and the specificity of Pridnestrovie’s economy cannot be effective. That's why we say today that no action in respect of Pridnestrovie cannot be taken without taking into account the position of the Pridnestrovian side. This is counterproductive. In the end, our partners keep coming back to the fact that they review these decisions or do a correction of errors more speedily, as it was in our contacts with the European side,” stressed the diplomat.

Regarding the current situation in the negotiation process with the Republic of Moldova, Vitaly Ignatiev said that at the present stage the Moldovan side avoids solutions in a constructive way of actual problems in the framework of the negotiation process, and it used the internal political difficulties existing in Moldova to justify inaction in the dialogue and cover measures of pressure and inadequate steps. “Unfortunately, on the negotiation table there are not developed agreements, which could serve as a solution to the problems. There are a number of proposals from the Pridnestrovian side, very comprehensive and overall. We put some hope on the compromise proposal of Pridnestrovie that we submitted on January 23 on the issue of freedom of movement in the field of automobile transport,” said the diplomat.

Special attention was paid to the development of Russian-Pridnestrovian relations. According to the head of the ministry, the Russian Federation is a strategic partner of the republic and a responsible consistent guarantor and mediator in the negotiation process. The provision of social and humanitarian support to the population of Pridnestrovie is equally important.

“As we know, a lot was done last year: the project “Textbook”, and the continuation of infrastructure projects through the ANO “Eurasian integration”. Furthermore, the pension project is being realized. Citizens of Pridnestrovie got the opportunity to arrange a Russian pension, the mechanism for simplified obtaining citizenship by Pridnestrovians operates actively. We will develop a strategic direction of cooperation,” concluded the diplomat.