Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Transnistria: statements by the Ukrainian ambassador to boycott the elections are groundless
Chisinau - Tiraspol, May 27 (Navigator, Petr Alekseev) - Statements published in the press by the Ambassador of Ukraine to Moldova Sergei Pirozhkov that the Transnistrian authorities blocked the participation of Ukrainian citizens in the presidential elections on May 25 are baseless and not supported by real facts.
This was stated by the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Transnistria.
Subscribe to the Navigator - Kyiv news on Facebook or Vkontakte.
The department “regards such statements by the Ukrainian diplomat, if they actually took place, as an outright lie, since not a single official of Transnistria voiced calls addressed to Transnistrian Ukrainians not to take part in the presidential elections.”
“Transnistria not only did not carry out any information blockade on the eve of the elections, but also, in cooperation with public organizations of Ukrainians of Transnistria, informed Pridnestrovian citizens with Ukrainian citizenship through the media about the available opportunities to take part in the presidential elections outside Pridnestrovie,” noted the PMR Ministry of Foreign Affairs .
They clarified that the state enterprise Transnistria Post provided assistance to the embassy by sending out about 60 invitations to the elections, and the Ukrainian communities of the republic organized the delivery of citizens to polling stations in the Moldovan cities of Chisinau and Balti.
“No obstacles to crossing the border between Pridnestrovie and the Republic of Moldova have been established, which is confirmed by social activists. Moreover, the vehicles remained unfilled and could make several trips, but there were a small number of people willing to go to Chisinau and Balti from Transnistria (the distance is from 80 to 120 km), and the transport was not even sent for repeated trips,” the agency reports.
The PMR Foreign Ministry notes that Ukrainian citizens complained that the embassy itself was preventing them from participating in the vote.
“In particular, citizens of Ukraine permanently residing in Transnistria were denied an absentee certificate, without which it was impossible to take part in voting on the territory of Ukraine,” the Foreign Ministry reports.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs notes that, despite the negative rhetoric of representatives of the Ukrainian embassy and the restrictive measures applied to Pridnestrovians, in particular, the possibility of their free movement through the territory of Ukraine, Pridnestrovie intends to maintain good neighborly relations with the people of this country.
The statement also notes that Pridnestrovie has always strived to ensure the right of Ukrainian citizens of the republic to participate in the electoral processes in neighboring Ukraine.
About 90 thousand citizens of Ukraine live in Transnistria, of which about 70 thousand have the right to vote, and in the elections on May 25, less than half a thousand Transnistrian Ukrainians voted.
Transnistria's Foreign Ministry: Ukrainian Ambassador's Election Boycott Statements Are Unfounded