People in Security Zone choose Transnistrian 'citizenship' and cheap gas

Since the beginning of the year, about 120 residents of villages in the Security Zone sought the so-called “citizenship” of the Transnistrian region because they are disappointed by the lack of actions from the authorities of Moldova. According to former Ministry of the Interior Ghenadie Cosovan, the number of those opting for Transnistrian “citizenship” and for the benefits offered by Tiraspol, such as cheap gas and high pensions, is on the rise, Info-Prim Neo reports. Ghenadie Cosovan told a press club meeting that Moldova lacked a strategy for solving the problems of these citizens and the internal checkpoints on the Nistru frustrated even more the inhabitants of the Security Zone. “My comrades from Cocieri told me that when winter falls, the only source of livelihood is the ice bridge on the Nistru. If in summer they carry food with the ferry, in winter they do it with sledges. The fuel consumption of the Cocieri Plateau (the villages of Cocieri, Molovata Noua, Corjova, Mahala, Roghi, Vasilievca), meaning gasoline and diesel from the left bank of the Nistru, is of 6 million lei, money which goes into their budget. I don’t even speak about food, bread, cans. Day by day we are losing these Transnistrian villages”, said Cosovan. The former official stressed that it was important for the Moldovan authorities to offer benefits to the inhabitants of the Security Zone in order to make the idea of reintegration of the country more attractive.