Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Cristina Lesnic said that Chisinau’s current priority in relation to Tiraspol is to overcome the novel coronavirus pandemic and the situation should not be politicized. What interests the citizens today is their psychological, medical and social comfort in society. The confidence building measures taken in relation to the people showed that there are a number of lessons to be learned in a crisis situation.

“I noted that on March 16 and 17, when the state of emergency was declared, both Chisinau and Tiraspol started to take similar measures to protect the persons so as to overcome the crisis or at least to sensitize the people to the need of being ready for a special regime. […] The measures agreed by the Commission for Exceptional Situations have become harsher and we consider these measures should be applied all over the Republic of Moldova,” the official stated in an interview for RFE/RL’s Moldovan Service.

The communication between Chisinau and Tiraspol does not have only a written form. Communication is also maintained with the partners of the 5+2 format so as to correctly manage the crisis situation faced by Moldova due to this pandemic, said Cristina Lesnic.

After Ukraine closed its borders, they received multiple requests concerning the import of food products and medicines into the Transnistrian region. “And we thus had to react swiftly so as to ensure proper communication with all the mayors, district heads and people of the Security Zone. When I speak about the Security Zone, I mean 20 km from the administrative line. We also had to take care of the Moldovan citizens in the Transnistrian region.”

According to Cristina Lesnic, COVID-19 test kits were transmitted to the Transnistrian region and the taken samples are brought to the laboratory of the National Public Health Agency in Chisinau for confirmation.

As regards the economic activity in general and the Transnistrian business entities registered in Chisinau, the official said that according to the updated data, 550 businesses worked in the Transnistrian region on a permanent basis on March 1, 2020. Also, 1,631 business entities worked on a temporary basis. Both of the types of businesses are based in the Transnistrian region and can work to capacity.