Moldova decided to “crush and drown” Transnistria with its currency
Moldovan banks returned transfers in the Moldovan national currency (lei) to 9 Transnistrian enterprises in February under the pretext that the origin of these funds was allegedly unknown. In addition, three large industrial enterprises of Transnistria were denied replenishment of their accounts.
Deputy Chairman of the Pridnestrovian Republican Bank Alexey Melnik stated this on air on the TSV TV channel.
“For the first time, we were faced with the fact that we cannot pay residents of the Republic of Moldova on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. Some payments go through to the accounts of Moldovan enterprises, but these accounts are blocked. A fair question arises: if Transnistrian banks are not licensed and do not comply with anti-money laundering requirements, then on what basis did Moldovan banks miss payments to Transnistrian banks,” Melnik said.
According to his data, in 2019, Moldovan banks transferred 3 billion 246 million lei from 670 Moldovan enterprises and 15 international organizations, including Western embassies and the OSCE, to the accounts of Pridnestrovian enterprises. Already in February, 24 Moldovan enterprises transferred 3,5 million lei to Transnistria. Moreover, one of the payers was the Ministry of Finance of Moldova, which paid for the maintenance of Romanian-language schools. Thus, the question about the origin of the Moldovan currency is completely irrelevant.
“What should we do with these lei - salt them, accumulate them in the accounts of the National Bank of Moldova? Moldovan counterparties will not wait long. Therefore, foreign trade turnover with Moldova will decline sharply. We can only interrupt interaction in order to reduce the risks associated with non-payments,” Melnik said.
Over the past ten years, trade turnover between the two banks of the Dniester has increased 5,5 times. Pridnestrovie supplied electricity, cement, metals, grain and other goods worth $2019 million to Moldova in 255. At the same time, Pridnestrovian enterprises purchased scrap, medicines, food, and transport services worth $120 million from Moldova.
More than 1,5 thousand enterprises from both banks are involved in trade operations. However, 55% of Moldovan imports are scrap for the Moldavian Metallurgical Plant (MMZ) in Rybnitsa and railway services for the delivery of this scrap.
But most of all in Transnistria they are concerned about the inability to pay for a number of medical operations that PMR doctors do not yet perform. We are talking about human lives.
Deputy of the Supreme Council of the PMR Andrei Safonov is confident that the political interests of both the current leadership of Moldova and its Western curators are behind the banking blockade.
“They want to tear our enterprises away from the banking system of Transnistria and our authorities, turn on their financial legal field and declare that you are ours, why do you need these separatist structures that do not solve anything. The performance, of course, is oak, but it has never been virtuosic in Moldova. There is an attempt to dump us a huge amount of lei so that we cannot use them, turning them into candy wrappers,” Safonov said on the First Pridnestrovsky TV channel.
He believes that the Moldovan government is “mystifying the Russian Federation”, trying to convince it of its desire to resolve the problems of Transnistria, but in fact is following the instructions of the West to undermine the financial and economic base of Transnistria.
“There is a clear line to crush us, and then report to the West that Transnistria has been brought under control - weakened, deprived of income from its factories. There could well have been consultations from Western curators represented by the United States and the European Union,” Safonov said.
Political scientist Sergei Shirokov believes that Moldova is forcing Transnistria to abandon games of economic interaction and take the path of fierce competition.
We are parties to the conflict. We have two different states. Only security and the economy are somehow keeping us close. They are now cutting down the branch on which we were all sitting. Now they are trying to develop at our expense. It is unacceptable. Okay guys, then forget about trust and friendship. There are two competing projects. The strongest will win. I hope it will be us,” Shirokov said on TSV.
Moldova has decided to "squeeze and drown" Transnistria with its currency.