The subject concerning the neutral-design license plates and the possibility of crossing the Ukrainian border for the inhabitants from the left side of the Nistru are among the major preoccupations of the government, said Parliament Speaker Igor Grosu, who denied the accusations that the government makes concessions to the self-styled Transnistrian authorities. According to Grosu, the request made by Chisinau to Kiev to extend the permission for motor vehicles without neutral-design license plates to cross the Ukrainian border is based only on the interests of the citizens from the left side of the Nistru, IPN reports.
The Speaker said that in the dialogue with Tiraspol, Chisinau prefers to ensure calmness. Chisinau’s request to Kiev to put off the introduction of the ban on the crossing of the border is based on the fact that there are only two vehicle registration centers, in Tiraspol and Râbnița, and the citizens do not have time to replace the license numbers.
“We abide first of all by the interests of our citizens from the left side of the Nistru. It is the ordinary people who ultimately suffer, not the so-called administration in Tiraspol, which does not need to cross the Ukrainian border as no one waits for them there. We have only two registration centers. Until July, there was a vacuum of power on the right bank. The institutions were on waiting positions and no one encouraged the registration of vehicles. That’s why we decided to give them time,” Igor Grosu stated in the program “The Fourth Estate” on N4 TV channel.
The official Chisinau asked again the Ukrainian authorities to put off the introduction of the ban on vehicles with Transnistrian license plates until January 10, 2022. Kiev hasn’t yet provided a response.
“The Ukrainian side hasn’t come with a final response. We are attentively following what is going on at the border. There are no impediments. The people can travel by units of transport with neutral-design license plates. The vehicles that were in Ukraine at that moment were allowed to return to the left bank and we are ready to find solutions. We do not think about the comfort of the so-called administration in Tiraspol. We think about the people and saw that in the July 11 elections, 14-15% of the voters from that territory where we cannot campaign think differently. Our preoccupation is aimed at these people,” said Igor Grosu.
The ban on crossing the Ukrainian border imposed on motor vehicles with Transnistrian license plates took effect on September 1. Only vehicles with neutral-design license plates are admitted. A number of buses and minibuses running to Odessa had to go back from the border as passenger and commercial units of transport do not fall into the category of vehicles whose Transnistrian license plates can be replaced with neutral-design license plates. The Socialist leader Igor Dodon said the ban was imposed by Ukraine following an agreement reached by Chisinau and Kiev for blocking the Transnistrian region at economic level.
