The Tiraspol administration has announced that peacekeepers have begun to wear badges featuring the “flag” of Transnistria on their uniforms. The decision was presented as a reaction to the appearance of the state symbols of the Republic of Moldova on the uniforms of Moldovan soldiers within the Joint Peacekeeping Forces, reports the IPN correspondent from Tiraspol.
The changes were preceded by the appeals of several organizations of the 1992 war veterans, who requested in March the authorities in Chisinau to allow the Moldovan soldiers from the peacekeeping contingent to wear the state symbols on their uniform. Shortly after that, the soldiers of the National Army began to wear badges with the flag of the Republic of Moldova on their sleeve.
The authorities in Chisinau have explained that the measure represents an alignment of the peacekeeping contingent’s uniform to the current rules regarding the wearing of the National Army’s distinctive insignia.
Tiraspol, however, believes that the use of the state symbolism of the Republic of Moldova would violate previous agreements within the Joint Control Commission. Representatives of the region have invoked Protocol No. 84 of the JCC, which, according to them, regulates the use of symbols on peacekeepers’ uniforms.
The peacekeeping operation on the Dniester has been carried out since 1992 under the coordination of the Joint Control Commission, which includes representatives from the Republic of Moldova, the Transnistrian region and the Russian Federation.
