The Government of Moldova considers the 25th anniversary of the tragic events of 1992 on the Nistru represents rather a holiday with tears in eyes and it would be more suitable to fly the flags at half-mast on this day. In a comment, the executive says Russia’s intention to solemnly mark the 25th anniversary of the start of the current peacekeeping operation, in the absence of a plan of common events on this occasion, can affect the relations between the two states, which the Republic of Moldova wants to be friendly and based on mutual respect, IPN reports.
The comment says that on July 21, it was 25 years of the signing in Moscow of the agreement on the principles of peaceful settlement of the armed conflict in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova, by the then Presidents of the Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation. The assessment of the political importance of this document in retrospect shows this brought to an end the armed confrontations and bloodshed, putting thus the life of the ordinary people from the two banks of the Nistru above everything.
“Rendering our homage to all those killed in the war for defending the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova and to all those who remained alive as a result of the hostilities on the Nistru of the spring-summer of 1992, we can now better realize the price that we had to pay for our freedom and for the peace and calmness to return to our land and in our homes. This is the most valuable lesson that we learned from the tragic events experienced in 1992,” says the comment.
At the same time, the Moldovan authorities say many of the important objectives set in the agreement of 1992 remained unachieved. The saddest conclusion is that the Republic of Moldova has to continue to face a secessionist conflict that represents a serious obstacle to the further development of society and generates a multitude of problems and difficulties for the ordinary people from both banks of the Nistru.
The efforts made in these 25 years to peacefully resolve the conflict in different negotiation formats, by observing the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Moldova, and the free choice of its development path didn’t produce results.
The Moldovan authorities appreciate the positive contribution of the peacekeeping operation on the Nistru launched at the end of July 1992, where the Russian military contingent played a decisive role in separating the belligerent forces, in resorting the ceasefire agreement and in maintaining relative peace and calmness in the Security Zone. In time yet, it was ascertained that this operation didn’t manage to ensure the complete demilitarization of the Security Zone and to eliminate all the obstacles to the free movement of people, goods and services between the two banks of the Nistru, as the Moldovan-Russian agreement of 1992 provides.
Moreover, the peacekeeping operation turned into a factor that conserves the Transnistrian conflict as the biased attitude and the sympathies of the Russian peacekeepers with the separatist Transnistrian regime are absolutely evident. That’s why the Moldovan authorities started to demand that this operation should be transformed into a multination civil mission with an international mandate as this can contribute to building confidence and a more favorable atmosphere for holding negotiations to identity a viable solution to the Transnistrian conflict.
As a result of the concerted political-diplomatic efforts, at the OSCE Summit and at the summit of the states that are a party to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe that were held in Istanbul on November 18-19, 1999, a pertinent decision was adopted on Russia’s commitment to pull out its troops and munitions from Moldova’s territory. But this commitment was neglected by this country. Despite these unfavorable circumstances, the Moldovan authorities pleaded and will continue to plead in a consistent way for the pullout of the Russian troops and munitions that stay illegally on the country’s territory.
The comment says the festivities whose unfriendly spirit is felt rather well could negatively affect the subsequent Transnistrian conflict settlement negotiations for agreeing a special legal status for Transnistria.
