Political analyst Vladimir Socor said the “5+2” mechanism used in the Transnistrian settlement process since 2005 is completely inefficient. In reality, this plays the role of blocking eventual decisions imposed by Russia on the Republic of Moldova, IPN reports.
“The Republic of Moldova can use the “5+2” forum to block such decisions in the future. The situation is hypothetical. We didn’t face such situations and the “5+2” mechanism remains a simple forum for debates, as it is actually the OSCE - a simple forum for debates,” Vladimir Socor stated in an interview for Radio Free Europe.
According to the analyst, there is this collective and abstract formula – mediators and observers, but only Moscow and Tiraspol are, in point of fact, those that associate Russia directly with the notion of mediator. Surely, Russia is a direct participant in the conflict and, in fact, is even the initial instigator of the conflict. Russia demands to adopt a political solution to the conflict or, at least to make considerable progress in adopting a political solution for it to consider the withdrawal of its troops. This is what is called “synchronization”, but this word does not appear or appears seldom in the official language. The notion as such remains a condition of Russia – to synchronize the withdrawal of the Russian troops with the political settlement of the conflict by adopting a special status for the Transnistrian region.
Asked if the President will manage to bring something new in the Transnistrian file during the year that remained until the end of his term in office, Vladimir Socor said Igor Dodon took up with the promise that he will reunite the country with the Transnistrian region. “They spoke about federalization initially. Later, Mister Dodon abandoned the notion of federalization and a special status was talked about. But I think that Mister Dodon realized that the Party of Socialists will not benefit from the votes of Transnistria. If the country is reunified, Moscow will probably maintain another pro-Russian party in Transnistrian and will maneuver this party inside a reunited Republic of Moldova until Russia controls Transnistria from political viewpoint. That’s why Mister Igor Dodon will base his aspirations for a new presidential office on other reasons than the reunion with Transnistria, namely on internal development and modernization of the country,” stated Vladimir Socor.
The “5+2” format includes representatives of the Republic of Moldova and the Transnistrian region as the parties, the OSCE, Russia and Ukraine as mediators and the EU and the U.S. as observers. The last round of talks held at the start of this October in Bratislava didn’t end with the signing of a document. According to Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Alexandru Flenchea, the protocol drafted after the meeting wasn’t signed because the official Tiraspol didn’t support four priorities announced by the official Chisinau. Therefore, the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the Transnistrian Settlement Process Franco Frattini proposed a compromise solution.
