Since August 24, 2015 the Republic of Moldova banned the movement of the Pridnestrovian transport across the border between Ukraine and Moldova by the Order of the Head of the Border Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Advisor to the Chairperson of the Government of the PMR, Head of the expert group on the development of transport and road facilities Vladimir Trandasir spoke on the current situation in that sphere to the correspondent of the IA “Novosti Pridnestrovya”.
IA “Novosti Pridnestrovya”: Vladimir Grigorevich, what is the reason for the ban introduced by Moldova?
Vladimir Trandasir: It is difficult to understand the intricacies of the motivations of the Moldovan side. The ban was introduced without consulting or notifying Pridnestrovie preliminarily. In fact, the Pridnestrovian side learned about the restrictive measures taken by Moldova from media reports and representatives of the Association of Transporters and Road workers of Pridnestrovie. This, of course, hardly shows the good-neighbourly and partner intentions of Moldova, but the problem needs to be addressed.
On the day of introduction of the ban the phones in the Presidential Administration, in the Transport Department of the Regional Development Ministry, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PMR were ringing off the hook. There were dozens of calls. Pridnestrovian transport companies and citizens are extremely concerned about the ban, a number of international passenger routes has been discontinued.
It should be remembered that we are not talking about the introduction of a new ban, but about the implementation of solutions that Moldova tried to introduce in 2008-2009, but was not supported by Ukraine. Now, as far as one can judge, Ukrainian partners perceived Moldova’s new restrictive measures without much enthusiasm.
Formally, Moldova is trying through the media to explain the measures of pressure by certain international obligations what we have repeatedly encountered in the framework of the expert (working) groups, but, in fact, there are signals that the decision was taken by the Head of the Moldovan Border Police by himself. So, we are talking about the fact that Moldovan representative on political issues Victor Osipov allegedly learned about the ban almost in the same way as Pridnestrovie - from media reports - or from the statement of the Foreign Ministry of Pridnestrovie made the next day.
IA “Novosti Pridnestrovya”: What is the real situation with the ban? How does it affect the freedom of movement of citizens?
Vladimir Trandasir: Movement through the Moldovan-Romanian border for vehicles registered in the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic has been forbidden for a long time - since 2008, and now the Moldovan Border Police have extended the ban to the Moldovan-Ukrainian border. Several passenger routes are stopped, citizens on private cars also cannot travel across the border between Moldova and Ukraine.
With regard to the Ukrainian-Pridnestrovian border, through which most of the routes still run, the movement is not stopped here. I would like to thank the representatives of Ukraine who have not joined in the Moldovan prohibitive measures.
IA “Novosti Pridnestrovya”: Vladimir Grigorevich, are any measures taken to stabilize the situation in this regard?
Vladimir Trandasir: We are in constant contact with the leaders of the Pridnestrovian transport companies receiving the latest information about the situation from them. We also work closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PMR which adopted a number of statements on that issue and repeatedly asked the Moldovan side and international partners to lift the ban introduced outside the negotiating process.
The possibility to abolish restrictive measures as a priority was discussed at the meeting of the representatives on political issues last week. We received the first comments of the Moldovan delegation which expressed understanding of the problem and the need for its early resolution. I hope, in this sense, the deeds will not diverge from promises because prolongation of the problem could lead to taking harsh response measures by Pridnestrovie.
On Monday, the PMR’s Foreign Ministry in agreement with me addressed to the Moldovan side a proposal to hold a meeting of expert (working) groups on the development of transport and road facilities on Friday, 18 September specially dedicated to the discussion of lifting the ban on the movement of Pridnestrovian vehicles across the border between Moldova and Ukraine. Unfortunately, the Moldovan side refused to arrange a meeting without explanation.
We regard this refusal as a very troubling sign, which is not conducive to dialogue. If the meeting does not take place in the near future, and the parties fail to thoroughly and openly discuss and clarify the situation, to agree on lifting the ban, the consequences for the freedom of movement of Moldovan citizens through the territory of Pridnestrovie can be very bad.
In this context, I would like to call on our neighbours to the dialogue, to return to the negotiating table and resolve all the problematic issues in the transport sphere in a peaceful and mutually beneficial way, rather than through mutual bans and pressure.
Moreover, we have an actual example of the ability of the parties to compromise - the agreement reached at the highest level, as well as insurance entities on mutual recognition of insurance policies of the MTPL (Motor Third-Party Liability). It is significant that one of the important provisions of this agreement is an item on the liability insurance of vehicle owners at their place of registration. So, the Pridnestrovian registration with the insurance policy is sufficient to ensure that the Pridnestrovian vehicles could travel to Moldova.
We believe that absolutely similar mechanisms should operate for Pridnestrovian vehicles when crossing the state border of the Republic of Moldova as well. We expect a mature, responsible rational approach of the Republic of Moldova in this matter which is sensitive for all parties.
Source: novostipmr.com
