A multinational team on March 21 inspected the military units and facilities situated in the Security Zone in Moldova’s Transnistrian region. Ion Solonenco, chairman of the Joint Control Commission on behalf of Moldova, has told IPN that the Transnistrian and Russian sides were against the delegation’s visit.

Diana Gradinaru, head of the Defense Ministry’s PR service, has told IPN that the inspections are carried out in accordance with the Vienna Document of 2011, which is one of the main instruments in the political-military dimension of the international cooperation. “Russia’s representatives to the JCC know the commitments made by their country by adopting the Vienna Document of 2011 and realize the Russian side’s duties when a group of inspectors asks inspecting all the military forces (of the OSCE member states) deployed in a specific area,” she stated. Under the mentioned document, such visits are paid on Moldova’s territory three times a year.

The Vienna Document ensures the framework needed to organize appropriate measures in the area of armament control, disarmament and non-proliferation by carrying out regular inspections to see how the commitments made by the OSCE member states are fulfilled. Teams of military experts from the OSCE countries come to Moldova annually to inspect the national military units.