PSD suggests leasing out Transnistria to Russia

The Social Democratic Party (PSD) Friday launched its own project for settling the Transnistrian conflict, which provides for the leasing out of Transnistria to the Russian Federation for a period of 30 years, Info-Prim Neo reports. The territory from the left bank of the Nistru and all the goods should be rented out under an agreement between Moldova and Russia. “The main mistake committed during the years that followed after the conflict on the Nistru is that the Transnistrian region was always treated as a party at the talks. We consider that we should transform it from party into the subject of the discussions, while the talks must be carried out by Moldova and Russia,” the PSD president Dumitru Braghis said while presenting the project. Transnistria should be temporarily transferred under Russia’s jurisdiction so that it obeys the Russian laws. At the same time, state bodies of Moldova should work in parallel in the region, the people would obligatorily have dual nationality, while the Russian and Moldovan on the basis of Latin script will be the official languages. Moldova should remain a member of the CIS and simultaneously continue the European integration efforts. “Meanwhile, the Russian Federation together with Moldova should do everything possible to prepare the residents of Transnistria for the country’s reunification so that in 30 years we could adopt in Parliament a decision whereby Transnistria is offered the status of a component part of Moldova,” Braghis said. The project also envisions the payment of a rent. Russia should pay 100 billion rubles (about $3 billion) to Moldova and invest another 100 billion rubles in the development of Transnistria. Also, Russia should cancel all the debts of Moldova, including Transnistria, contribute to the cancellation of the debts to the Paris and London Clubs, supply natural gas and electric power to Moldova under preferential conditions, ensure the free movement of the Moldovan people and goods. According to the PSD, the agreement would not exempt Russia from the commitment taken at the OSCE Summit in Istanbul – to withdraw the Russian army from Moldova. Instead, Russia could defend its citizens in the region, as it always wanted, and strengthen the economic relations with Moldova, while the Russian economic entities would be able to participate in joint activities in the region. Dumitru Braghis said that similar cases existed in the world: Hong Kong was transferred to the British Empire, Cuba transferred Guantanamo to the United States, while the USSR leased a part of its territory to Finland for 50 years. Political analysts describe the PSD’s initiative as a purely electoral move. “Braghis’ proposal is beyond the law and discussions and, in the form in which it was presented, will die even before the elections. There are no similarities between Hong Kong and the Transnistrian conflict, while the political class is not ready to accept even the idea of such a project today,” Viorel Cibotaru, program director at the Public Policy Institute, stated for Info-Prim Neo. Vasile Botnaru, the head of the Radio Free Europe Office in Chisinau, considers that such ingenious ideas are needed so as to awake the politicians that are like mastodons that barely move. “Such projects can help the people and the politicians understand that it is perhaps better to make a radical concession than to lose the Transnistrian region irrecoverably. It is time that absolutely unexpected solutions are offered to the Transnistrian region, solutions that provide not only political but also economic advantages,” Vasile Botnaru said. The Moldovan authorities consider that the Transnistrian dispute should be settled by preserving Moldova’s integrity, independence and sovereignty at talks in the 5+2 format, which include Moldova, Transnistria, Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE and observers from the European Union and the United States.