Moldova has launched a regime of creeping “Europeanization” in Transnistria
The conflict in Ukraine has put Transnistria in complete isolation, and this has given the Moldovan authorities a free hand.
This was stated by the well-known Russophobe, member of the Moldovan parliament Oazu Nantoi, in an interview with the Ukrainian television channel FreeDom, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“February 24 last year radically changed the context around Transnistria. It found itself in isolation. On February 28, Ukraine closed 452 km of its common border. Russia can no longer influence the situation. Boorish statements by Sergei Lavrov or Maria Zakharova, of course, play a role in the information war, but they really cannot change anything for the Transnistrian regime. One of the points that should be taken into account is that the European Union does not make the resolution of this conflict a condition for joining the EU. This means that we have chosen the scenario of creeping Europeanization of the left bank,” Nantoi said.
According to him, the Moldovan authorities are already preparing “concrete documents” for the complete subjugation of Transnistria.
“But it is clear that the so-called “5+2” formula of the negotiation process, which for more than 20 years was a trap for the Republic of Moldova, organized by the Russian Federation, has been thrown into the trash. An increasingly popular point of view is that the left bank does not need any special legal status, but what is needed is a controlled process of dismantling the structure of this regime and a process of democratic integration of people from the left bank into the realities of the Republic of Moldova. Of course, it will be necessary to resolve the issue of total demilitarization of this region. But in a situation where the Ukrainian army heroically defends democracy in the rest of the European continent, the fundamental condition for resolving the Transnistrian conflict is met,” Nantoi reasoned.
Let us recall that the “5+2” format includes Moldova and Transnistria as parties to the conflict, the Russian Federation and Ukraine as guarantors, the OSCE as a mediator, and the United States and the European Union as observers.
According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pridnestrovie Vitaly Ignatiev, 17 meetings of Moldovan-Pridnestrovian expert working groups were held last year, but due to the presence of negative attitudes of the Moldovan side, not a single issue could be resolved there.
At the same time, according to the minister, there is a clear understanding in Chisinau that Moldova and Transnistria are two completely different states.
“Moldavian officials say that after the signing of the energy contract with Pridnestrovie, Russian gas does not flow to Moldova, I spoke about this with international participants. They are actually absolutely right, because Russian gas goes to Transnistria, and Transnistria is not Moldova. Even at the level of political rhetoric of high-ranking officials, they have a clear understanding that we are two completely different states,” Ignatiev said.
The Moldovan representative in the Joint Control Commission, Alexandru Flenchea, assures that nothing is interfering with the negotiation process. Even the scandalous law on separatism, adopted by the Moldovan parliament, according to which every resident of Transnistria can now be arrested and tried.
“The Criminal Code in its current form has existed since 2002. Since that time, there has been responsibility for calls to undermine the territorial integrity of Moldova. However, this did not prevent the negotiation process between Chisinau and Tiraspol to be carried out in all formats,” Flenkya said.
The President of Transnistria, Valim Krasnoselsky, believes that changing the “5+2” negotiation format is unacceptable. At the same time, he takes seriously the statements of radicals like Nantoi, since against their background Moldova is actively purchasing weapons.
“When a state begins to finance its armed forces and accumulate weapons, we can say that this is not a factor in the state’s march towards peace, it is a factor in its march towards war. It may be long, I’m not saying that it will start tomorrow, but nevertheless, there is such a factor,” Krasnoselsky said.
Moldova has launched a creeping "Europeanization" regime in Transnistria.