Russian regions provide humanitarian aid to Transnsitria

About 230 tons of foodstuffs and drugs from the Russian region of Podmoscovye have been sent to Tiraspol as humanitarian aid for Transnistria. Another Russian province, Kuzbass, will provide financial assistance to Transnistria, according to Russian media. A column of 26 long vehicles KamAZ set out to Tiraspol from the Noginsk city at Moscow’s time 04:00. According to Boris Gromov, governor of Podmoscovye, the decision to provide humanitarian aid to Transnistria was supported by top leadership and it is controlled by the Kremlin. He said that 10 tons of flour, 6,000 tons of canned meat and pastry, food for children, drugs, etc. have been collected. One more humanitarian aid will be collected soon, Gromov added. Also on Wednesday, the Kuzbass region governor said that this region will provide financial assistance worth 500,000 roubles (about 200,000 lei) to Transnistria. The social-political movement Ravnopravye from Moldova announced that it will create some stations in Moldova to collect foodstuffs and drugs from Trasnistrian population. Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Vesepovsky described the humanitarian aid of Russia as a provocation. He said that this action is not necessary, but Ukraine will ensure the security of the convoy. He noted that the Russian Federation has notified Ukraine over this convoy, but it did not inform Moldova, the destination of long vehicles. „I think that this is not a nice gesture towards a sovereign state,” Vesepovsky was quoted as saying by Ukrainian media. Contacted by Info-Prim Neo, Dorina Roman, spokeswoman for the Foreign and European Integration Ministry, said that the ministry did not comment on this action yet. Tiraspol and Moscow describe the implementation of the new customs regime at the Moldovan-Ukrainian border starting March 3 as a “blockade on Transnistria” since the commodities from the secessionist region of Moldova can be exported on basis of the Moldovan customs stamp only. The West welcomes the new customs regime, while the European Parliament has urged Russia to stop its support for the Tiraspol regime immediately.