Ukrainian premier will not reply to declaration of Russian State Duma on situation in Transnistria

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yury Yekhanurov will not reply to the anxiety of lawmakers from the Russian State Duma regarding the situation in Moldova’s eastern breakaway enclave of Transnistria. Yekhanurov maid this announcement at a news conference in Lutsk on March 10 evening, according to Ukrainian press reports. „Ukraine has a standpoint that must be respected. They can declare, our lawmakers also deliver official statements,” Yekhanurov said. The Russian State Duma adopted a declaration on Friday, March 10 in connection with worsening of the situation in Transnistria, urging the Kiev and Chisinau governments to restore the customs regime existing before March 3. The introduction of the new regime may direct to a humanitarian catastrophe in Transnistria, it said. The Moldovan parliament adopted Thursday a declaration in which it regretted that the Russian Federation does not describe the statements of the unrecognised Tiraspol administration appropriately and underlined that the entire responsibility for the recent dangerous evolutions in the region rests with the separatist leaders in Tiraspol and „their protectors in other countries.” Ukraine introduced the new customs regime for Transnistrian commodity flow at the Moldovan-Ukrainian border on March 3, so that the goods from the breakaway enclave are exported on basis of the Moldovan customs stamps only. The unrecognised Tiraspol authorities have described this action as an economic blockade and they withdrew from the five-plus-two negotiations on March 7.