The separatist conflicts in the former members of the Soviet Union are an instrument used by the Russian Federation to keep these republics in the gray area, expert Igor Boțan stated in a debate titled “Curse of Frozen Conflicts and their Solutions”. According to him, the unrecognized regime in Tiraspol plays into Moscow’s hands, and Russia has total control over the Transnistrian region.
The expert noted that Moscow uses the frozen conflicts in the Republic of Moldova and Georgia to hinder the development of these countries and keep them in its sphere of influence. The European Union sounded the alarm about the danger of Russia taking control of the former Soviet republics together with Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
“The separatist conflicts are an instrument to keep the former separatist Soviet republics in Russia’s sphere of influence. After Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the European Union changed its attitude towards the former republics of the USSR, publicly declaring that it is dangerous for these states to be left in the gray area. Vladimir Putin said that, following the model of Peter the Great, Russia must recover its territories. This is the situation, but citizens of the Republic of Moldova live in the Transnistrian region. 90% are citizens of the Republic of Moldova. The Tiraspol administration is fully controlled by the Russian Federation. There is also the ECHR decision saying that, de facto, the Transnistrian region is under the total control of the Russian Federation. The separatists took over 40% of the industry of the Republic of Moldova. What is happening now to this industry? It is decaying or is sold. So, we were robbed,” said Igor Boțan.
According to the expert, the situation of the Transnistrian region, which is totally controlled by the Russian Federation, was made known to the entire international community in 2006, by the former communist leadership of the country.
“Regarding the Transnistrian conflict, we must thank Vladimir Voronin. During the period when he held office of President, he turned to the American Bar Association (ABA) so that from a legal point of view, of international law, to collect arguments and the authorities in Chisinau could address the international community with the request to change the perspective on the Transnistrian problem so that it could be solved. The investigation was presented in Chisinau in July 2006, and in August 2006 former Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev addressed the international community, offering this document to all the ambassadors so that everyone could know what is happening in the Transnistrian region,” said the permanent expert of IPN’s project.
Igor Boțan explained that the unrecognized regime in Tiraspol is obedient to the Russian Federation and acts in the interests of Moscow. The rhetoric according to which the linguistic conflict was the basis of Transnistrian separatism is false.
“The unrecognized regime in Tiraspol was born with a serious violation of the Constitution of the USSR and the MSSR, which stipulated that the borders of the Soviet republics could not be changed without the consent of the authorities of these republics. The separatist leaders in Tiraspol violated the Constitution of the MSSR. It is invoked that the linguistic problem became a reason for separatism. So many years have passed and we see that in the Republic of Moldova this issue is addressed in the Russian language, including in today’ debate. No one prevents Russian-speaking citizens from participating in talk shows, debates. In bookstores, we see literature in Russian on the shelves. In the Transnistrian region, on the contrary, the schools teaching in Romanian are under permanent pressure,” stated the expert.
The public debate entitled “Curse of Frozen Conflicts and their Solutions” was the 312th installment the project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates”, which is implemented by IPN News Agency with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.
