Chisinau aims to peacefully settle the Transnistrian conflict, Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Oleg Serebrian said at the beginning of a meeting with Tiraspol’s chief negotiator Vitaly Igantiev, at the OSCE office in the Transnistrian region, IPN reports.
“Our goal is to resolve peacefully, through negotiations, all issues that arise. We last met on June 20 and the seven-month break is quite long. Of course, we regret this fact and hope that 2024 will be a more successful year compared to 2023. Today’s agenda is rather tight, perhaps because of the long hiatus,” the Deputy Prime Minister noted.
According to him, despite the fact that the agenda constantly includes the need to restore the rights and freedoms of particular people and despite the continuous calls of the authorities in Chisinau and on other negotiation platforms, the signals about new abuses continue.
“The lack of positive dynamics in high-profile cases – Victor Pleșcanov, Vladimir Dudnic, Alexandru Dimov, Stanislav Menzarari, Mihail Ermurachi – is extremely worrying. Once again we call on our counterparts to take immediate steps to free these citizens, to restore all their rights and freedoms, but also their legal interests. First of all, they should be offered access to qualified medical assistance so as to avoid the worsening of their state of health,” said Oleg Serebrian.
The official noted that Tiraspol’s decision regarding the farmers from Dubasari, who own farmland located beyond the Rybnitsa-Tiraspol road, is another question to be discussed. More specifically, the administration of the Transnistrian region decided to annul the so-called preferential customs regime and farmers are obliged to pay taxes to the budget of the left side of the Nistru. Such a decision is unfounded. The decisions referring to the Romanian-language schools in the region and legal entities operating in the Transnistrian region which are registered in the Republic of Moldova are also unsubstantiated. These will pay for energy resources according to charges applied the right side. These decisions are destructive and run counter to the interests of the citizens from both banks of the Nistru.
For his part, Vitaly Igantiev said that during the previous discussions, none of Chisinau’s representatives mentioned possible difficulties. But since January 1, Transnistrian economic agents have been obliged to pay taxes in the form of customs duties on import and export. “It’s double taxation. This is against the agreements reached in the negotiation process and the existing mechanisms. It is also a violation of the principles of a free market, which negatively influences the progress of the negotiation process,” stated Tiraspol’s representative.
The meeting in the 1+1 format will take place following a number of decisions taken by Tiraspol as ”response measures” to the fact that the new Customs Code of the Republic of Moldova, which entered into force on January 1, oblige all economic agents, including those from the Transnistrian region, to pay customs duty according to general principles, taking into account the preferences granted in accordance with international treaties and agreements to which Moldova is a party.
Also, Tiraspol accused that “battle groups are being prepared in Moldova to commit terrorist attacks in the region.” The Bureau for Reintegration Policies in Chisinau described this information as provocative and pursuing propaganda goals.
Last year, the negotiators from Tiraspol and Chisinau had two meetings, in February and June. Discussions on the Transnistrian conflict had previously taken place in the 5+2 negotiation format. It includes Chisinau and Tiraspol as parties to the conflict, the OSCE, the Russian Federation and Ukraine as mediators and the European Union and the U.S. as observers. Since Russia’s war against Ukraine began in February 2022, this negotiation format has stalled.
