In the current difficult context, taking measures for the Transnistrian conflict not to recidivate is the only good thing that can be done, considers historian and publicist Gheorghe Cojocaru. In an interview for Radio Free Europe, this said that the frequent changes of government in the last few years do not seem to have affected the Moldovan authorities’ general line in relation to the Transnistrian region, IPN reports.
Gheorghe Cojocaru stated that in the conditions when the Russian-Ukrainian tensions reach record highs and the Transnistrian administration often resorts to noisy provocative actions, the efforts made by the Moldovan authorities to ensure stability and predictability in the area deserve to be appreciated.
In another development, the historian said that after a Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration was named in the Filip Government, we can say that the central institutions of Moldova devote full attention to the Transnistrian issue. The fact that no meetings with the so-called leader of Transnistria Yevgheny Shevchuk have been held during almost two years does not mean that the relations with Tiraspol became colder or warmer because of this. In the current conditions, the relations with Tiraspol form part of a separate logic that is marked especially by the influence of the regional and European contexts.
Asked if there are real preconditions for unblocking the discussions after the Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration recently spoke about the resumption of the dialogue with Tiraspol, Gheorghe Cojocaru said the reopening of the talks in the 5+2 format should be considered through the angle of the preoccupations of Germany, which took over the OSCE Chairmanship. Germany aims to convene a large conference on building confidence between the sides involved in conflicts in the former Soviet area, under the aegis of the OSCE.
“Aiming to strengthen security and confidence in the European countries, Germany tends not to allow some of the conflicts, like that in Nagorno Karabakh in Transnistria, to unfreeze. In 2010, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev made in Mesenberg an agreement on the return of Transnistria under Moldova’s area of responsibility,” said the historian, adding that removing the former separatist leader Igor Smirnov from power was the only successful thing done since then.
