January 1 incident created an occasion for transforming peacekeeping mission, analyst

The regrettable tragedy that happened near Vadul lui Voda created an occasion for a new impetus to promote the transformation of the peacekeeping mission into a civil one, considers Eugen Revenko, program director at the Foreign Policy Association (APE). The expert told Info-Prim Neo that this tragedy reveals a number of known problems concerning the security and free movement of the people and the voluntarism of the foreign military men, their legal status and the status of the local servicemen working as part of foreign troops. “The unconditional, immediate and organized pullout of the Russian military troops from the territory of our country and the modification of the format of the peacekeeping mission have been two general consensus subjects between all the political forces of Moldova and objectives of the present and previous governments, including the Communist one that was in power until 2009,” said Eugen Revenko. According to the expert, the only betrayal of the national interests and violation of the authority given by the Law of 2005 were committed by Vladimir Voronin in March 2009, when an agreement was signed with the President of Russia, which envisioned the withdrawal of the peacekeepers after the resolution of the Transnistrian conflict, in exchange for an electoral photograph alongside Dmitry Medvedev. “It would be opportune for the Moldovan authorities to take steps to demilitarize the Security Zone and the Transnistrian region in general. A synergy may be obtained between the positions of Moldova and Ukraine as regards the demilitarization of the Transnistrian region, which would support the establishment of a strategic partnership between the two neighboring countries,” said the foreign policy expert. He also said that the peacekeeping forces, according to the UN criteria, are located between the belligerent forces. Russia is yet a party to the Nistru conflict of 1992 and this fact is confirmed by the Moldovan-Russian ceasefire agreement of 1992 and the ECHR case law (the case of Ilascu and others). “The killing of a civilian by a Russian peacekeeper on duty, no matter whether it was an intentional act or not, develops the instability generated by the continuous military presence in the region. The protests staged by the locals in the Security Zone confirm these conclusions,” said the expert. Eugen Revenko stressed that the replacement of the peacekeeping mission at practical level is an important step towards liquidating the barriers hindering the free movement of persons, eliminating the voluntarism of the armed persons, demilitarizing the Security Zone and laying down clear rules as regards the employment of civil observers. “It would be a nonmilitary authorized presence of civil observers from several countries, possibly OSCE members, not only from the east,” he said. On January 1, a young man was wounded fatally from a gun by a Russian peacekeeper at the trilateral peacekeeping post No. 9 situated near Vadul lui Voda. The 18-year-old man was driving a car and refused to stop at the post. Vadim Pisari died in the hospital shortly after he as operated.