The Transnistrian side refused to include the incidents that took place in the Security Zone in the agenda of the new round of the Transnistrian conflict settlement talks in the 5+2 format that was held in Odessa. Tiraspol’s political representative Nina Shtanski said that no subject that hadn’t been agreed earlier will be accepted for discussion, while the issues concerning security can be addressed in the 1+1 format of negotiations, IPN reports.
The second meeting in the 5+2 format this year took place in Ukraine on May 23 and 24, under the aegis of the Ukrainian presidency of the OSCE.
Acting Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Eugen Carpov, who is the negotiator on behalf of Chisinau, in a video transmission from Odessa after the meeting, told the journalists that they agreed to meet in the 1+1 format next week to discuss security-related matters. The relocation of the ‘supreme soviet’ from Tiraspol to Bender will be discussed there. Nina Shtanski replied that the decision to transfer an institution from a Transnistrian town to another is purely internal and there is nothing to be discussed about it in Chisinau.
The participants in the Odessa meeting examined such issues as the ensuring of conditions needed for the free movement of people and vehicles between the two banks of the Nistru River and the dismantling of the ropeway going over the Nistru, which connects Rezina and Rybnitsa. The sides signed an agreement on the dismantling of the construction and agreed that the works will be carried out by foreign workers. They also agreed to remove the radioactive waste from the Transnistrian region and to promote interaction between the police and organized crime fighting bodies, and other bodies.
The Transnistrian side does not agree with Chisinau’s intention to create an international traffic corridor via the Transnistrian region. Moreover, Nina Shtanski said the purpose of opening the bridge in Gura Bacului is not clear as, in the conditions put foulard by Chisinau, it will benefit only the people living on the right bank of the Nistru.
The Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, Ambassador Jennifer Brush said it is very important to open the bridge in Gura Bacului both for people and for companies. She voiced hope that this problem will be solved on the next round of the talks.
Special Representative of OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrii Deshchytsia proposed organizing a seminar on the prospects of the Transnistrian conflict settlement process, which would involve all the players of the 5+2 format, in Vienna this July, in cooperation with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The participants in the meeting agreed to hold the next round in the 5+2 format in Vienna on July 16-17. This format includes the negotiating sides – Chisinau and Tiraspol, the mediators – Ukraine, Russia and OSCE, and the observers – the U.S. and the European Union.
