Shevchuk should be shown that Moldova exists as a state, expert

Teo Cirnat, the director of the Human Rights Helsinki Committee in Moldova, thinks that the meeting between Vlad Filat and Yevgeniy Shevchuk left the impression that it was a meeting between two heads of state. “Shevchuk is the leader of a province, yet we treat him like we're scared that he could be offended somehow. We must show him that Moldova exists as a state, and the Prime Minister should have come with an agenda which addressed in particular the incidents in Cosnita and Pirita”, Cirnat told a talk show on Publika TV. “If we show (Shevchuk) that the only way to engage in foreign trade and do other things legally is through Chisinau, then he will say: Let's recognize and be part of Moldova. If we continue to discuss as if on equal footing, then he'll grow overbold. Smirnov, too, wasn't so cocky in the beginning. Such an attitude appears when Chisinau fails to take any action whatsoever to condemn the criminals”. Teo Cirnat also thinks that a blockade should be imposed on the Tiraspol regime to cut off its financial supply. “We have to put pressure on Shevchuk to deliver on his electoral promises, to replace the peacekeeping operation and remove the peacekeeping posts”. Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Eugen Carpov agreed that Shevchuck was merely the leader of a region that belongs to Moldova, but he didn't think that it was opportune today to insist on replacing the peacekeeping mission. “Talks should be held with the state with which we agreed to found the mission. This is a political issue and it must be discussed with international political actors”, the official told the same talk show. Eugen Carpov noted that the economic situation in Transnistria was a lot worse than on the right side of the Nistru. “The funds that they need must be earned legally and we have a strategy in this respect. Moldova proposed a regime of registering companies that are based in Transnistria with the national authorities. This will enable them to legally engage in international operations”. Eugen Carpov said that the date of a next meeting wasn't fixed, but he hoped that it wouldn't be long until then. On January 27, Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat had a meeting with Transnistria's leader Yevgeniy Shevchuk in Odessa in the context of the upcoming round of the 5+2 talks that will take place in February in the Irish capital, Dublin.