The effectiveness of the talks in the 5+2 format is reduced. Moscow blocked them particularly from the start. At the moment, when the U.S. is less involved in European affairs and the EU has other priorities in its agenda, the 5+2 format is rather a guarantee for the West against the unilateral actions taken by Russia to resolve the Transnistrian dispute by itself, as in November 2003, considers deputy director of the Institute for Political Analysis and Consultancy “Politicon” Ion Tabarta, IPN reports.
The expert said the Transnistrian conflict settlement talks can be stimulated by reaching an agreement similar to that concluded in Meseberg in June 2010. But will and reciprocal wish to resolve the dispute are needed from Russia and the West in this respect.
According to Ion Tabarta, the relations between Chisinau and Tiraspol have worsened. “After the liberal experiments of Shevchuk in the relations with Chisinau at the start of his tenure and the return of Putin to power in Russia, Tiraspol changed its attitude towards Chisinau. It is evident that the agenda of Tiraspol’s relations with Chisinau is compiled in Moscow. For its part, Chisinau prefers to follow further the small steps policy that cannot produce evident results in the settlement process,” said Ion Tabarta.
He also said the fact that the relations between Chisinau and Tiraspol worsened was seen in the Vienna talks. The sides reached no important agreement. Most probably, the situation will repeat at the next round of talks that will take place in Brussels in October.
As to the bringing by Russia of eight helicopters into the Security Zone, Ion Tabarta said the intention of Moscow defies the attempts of Chisinau to replace the military peacekeeping post-conflict monitoring mission with a civil one. “Moscow’s intentions seriously infringe the international law norms. The position of Kiev, which is legally camouflaged, from political and geological viewpoints can mean that Ukraine does not want the Russian peacekeepers to be equipped with helicopters,” stated the expert, adding that if Moscow brings helicopters to Transnistria without the consent of Chisinau and Kiev, the return to the ‘cold war’ between Russia and the West will become more evident.
