Transnistrian authorities extend restrictions on free movement of persons

The authorities in Transnistria have levied illegally the tax for crossing the region for four years. Recently, they started to demand that the men entering the breakaway republic present the soldier’s record. The authorities in Chisinau know about this, but do not have solutions. On the other hand, the peacekeeping organizations say they discussed this problem with the Tiraspol authorities for many times, but unsuccessfully. Alexandru Flenchea, head of the Information and Analysis Division of the Reintegration Ministry, says that the levying of the tax is illegal regardless of the way in which these sums are administered. “Point 5 of the agreement on the principles of peaceful regulation of the conflict in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova signed on July 21, 1992 by Mircea Snegur and Boris Eltsin says that all the administrative and physical obstacles to the free movement of the citizens and services shall be removed. Any kind of document checking is in contradiction with the given agreement,” Alexandru Flenchea said. According to the cited source, tens of petitions come to the Reintegration Ministry form citizens that complain about the fact that they are forced to present the soldier’s record when entering the territory controlled by the Tiraspol authorities. The complainers say that the Transnistrian control bodies make reference to an internal normative document, but do not provide explanations about the necessity of such a measure. “The action is illegal whatever the reason is,” Flenchea stressed. A number of combatants of the war on the Nistru expressed their worry over the fact that the checking of the soldier’s record, measure which was instituted by the Tiraspol authorities recently, can be a trap for the ones that took part in the conflict. Tudor Plesca, police lieutenant of the Interior Ministry during the war on the Nistru and platoon commander, told Info-Prim Neo that there were no recent cases of arrest of the former combatants, but such actions can yet take place. Plesca specified that immediately after the cessation of hostilities, many soldiers had been arrested on the right bank of the Nistru and extradited to the secessionist authorities. Alexandru Flenchea says that it is the direct obligation of the peacekeeping forces to remove these obstacles. They are always notified of such violations. Contacted by the agency, Claus Neukirch, Spokesperson/Press and Public Affairs Officer of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, said that the OSCE has always promoted the idea of free movement in the Security Zone, principle stipulated in point 5 of the settlement agreement signed in Moscow. “From our viewpoint, neither the so-called migration posts nor the entrance tax have legal basis. I have discussed this problem with the Transnistrian authorities more than once, at different levels, including with the leader Smirnov, but without result unfortunately,” Neukirch said. The tax levied when entering Transnistria is different and varies between 7 and 10 lei. Usually, the payer does not get a receipt.