The peacekeeping mission in the Security Zone must be reformed and this is a precondition for settling the Transnistrian dispute. Such a conclusion was reached by authors of the study “Reformation of the peacekeeping mission in Transnistria: a precondition for resolving the conflict” that was presented by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives “Viitorul”, IPN reports.

According to the Institute’s expert Eduard Tugui, one of the authors of the study, while the EU and other international players developed peacekeeping missions that focus more on crisis management, strengthening of the rule of law, civil administration and civil protection, the Russian model of the peacekeeping mission is more specific, with emphasis on security and the use of this mechanism for legalizing its military presence in the post-Soviet area. The conflict cannot be resolved if the current peacekeeping mission is not reformed.

The authors of the study consider the peacekeeping mission played an important role when it was set up. But it no longer meets the needs following the changes that took place in the region and in the conflict settlement process.

Expert of the Institute of World Policy of Kiev Leonid Litra, co-author of the study, said that almost 22 years passed, but the missions didn’t develop from a provisional mechanism designed to bring the hostilities to an end into a mission intended to generate confidence in the conflict settlement process and to bring the two banks of the Nistru River closer. Consequently, the current peacekeeping mission must be transformed into an international civil monitoring mission with a clear mandate and tasks, which would be impartial and would meet the UN standards.

The third author, expert Corneliu Ciurea, of the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives, said the transformation of the current peacekeeping mission into an efficient international one is a difficult task owing to the instability in the region and Russia’s refusal to accept changing the current format.

According to Corneliu Ciurea, the most positive scenario is the one where the sides agree to reform the mission so that it centers more on the implementation of the law and the observance of human rights, including the right to free movement. The second scenario is that the situation will gradually worsen without offering solutions, while the most pessimistic scenario is that the situation in the Security Zone will degenerate suddenly and Chisinau will be forced to leave the peacekeeping format.

The study was made in cooperation with the Institute of World Policy of Kiev and with the financial support of the German Marshall Fund.