The Transnistrian administration, by its acts and statements, shows that it does not want the two banks of the Nistru River to come closer. This is how experts from Chisinau commented on the ‘civilized divorce’ proposed by the Transnistrian leader Yevgeny Shevchuk as solution to the Transnistrian conflict, IPN reports.

In a meeting with Prime Minister Iurie Leanca in Germany on October 30, Yevgeny Shevchuk said now that Moldova comes closer to the EU, the Transnistrian region will be deprived of the right to trade freely, the freight and passenger transportation will be blocked, while the economic benefits of the Association Agreement with the EU are false and are used to exert pressure on the region.

Journalist Angela Arama said the Transnistrian leader’s statements are empty. “There is no authority able to decide such a divorce. I don’t think that this divorce is possible. Moldova is not ready to abandon this territory,” she said in the program “Fabrika” on Publika TV channel.

Political commentator Iurie Cazacu said Tiraspol promotes Moscow’s interests and he sees no prospect of things improving after the Vilnius EaP Summit. “Tiraspol will remain inflexible. Economically, it will have no other way out than to comply with the European standards. If they follow a wrong path, it will be a fiasco,” he stated.

Expert of the Foreign Policy Association Victoria Bucataru said the reaction of Yevgeny Shevchuk is in fact the reaction of Russia. When the creation of the free trade area between Moldova and the EU was negotiated, those from Tiraspol were invited as observers, but they came only once.

University lecturer Nicolae Afanas said the big problem is that 90% of the people living in Transnistria have the same opinion as Yevgeny Shevchuk as they have been long manipulated and the European integration is regarded as a threat to the region.