Russian political scientist says Russia doesn’t need Transnistria

Russian political scientist Dmitri Oreskin, head of the "Merkator" analytical group, claims Russia does not need Transnistria, which is a “black hole” and a chain in the smuggling with weapons system. Oreskin believes that this region can be of interest only for certain force bodies that use this region to export weapons to world markets. In a comment placed on www.lentacom.ru , Dmitri Oreskin states that “some businessmen that are related to the Russian ruling forces is interested in the joining with the mnr, while Russia at whole is not interested ". Oreskin claims that the Russian elite, especially from the foreign politics section and relations with the ex-soviet countries, is very troubled by its incompetence. “The CIS member countries are less oriented towards Moscow, which in its turn does not care for the reasons of this alienation, but instead mimics control previously held over CSI states. In reality, the economic, ideological and other values presented by Europe are far more attractive than those offered by Russia. Instead of competing with Europe, Russia tries to apply the soviet methodologies and fakes control in the region”, the cited source affirmed, and mentioned that Russia can control only the poorest regions that itself doesn’t need, like Abkhazia, South Osetia and Transnistria, three unrecognized republics without any real economic potential. According to the Russian press, Transnistria owes Russia USD 700 million for natural gas, and after the new regime at the Moldovan-Ukrainian border, the Tiraspol regime requested an additional USD 50 million each trimester as humanitarian aid. “If mnr will join Russia, the further evolution is hard to predict, considering its territorial position, but one thing is for certain - Transnistria will be an acquisition that will cause only loss”, the political scientist Dmitri Oreskin announced.