The voters from Transnistria, breakaway pro-Russian region, are called on Sunday, September 17, to decide via referendum whether to keep the region’s independence and further joining the Russian Federation, or to stay with Moldova. AFP writes that the separatist regime of Tiraspol is in the middle of a new political assault for obtaining “de jure” independence from the R. Moldova, causing new tension at Europe’s frontiers and risking to open a true “Pandora’s Box” of the pro-Russian separatism. Encouraged by Russia’s attitude and geostrategic interests, “angered” by this year’s customs system enacted by Chisinau and Kiev, Transnistrian leaders choose to act as Montenegro did. According to the same source, the legal consequences of the referendum will be void, as no state or international organization recognizes Transnistria. Maintaining the actual state of affairs is nevertheless handy for Russia, which continues to keep strategic troops and munitions on the left bank of the Nistru River, although it committed to a total retreat at the OSCE Summit in Istanbul, 1999. Moscow uses Transnistria as a geostrategic outpost to feed its imperialistic ambitions and as pressure over Ukraine and the R. Moldova. Moscow considers as a political option the precedent of Montenegro which separated from Serbia in June, and the issues regarding the Kosovo’s statute. Following Transnistria, South Ossetia plans a referendum on independence from Georgia scheduled for November 12. Romanian Foreign minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu told AFP that the referendum is a “diversion” and a “frontal assault intended to hamper the International Community’s effort to find a solution to the long-lasting conflict.” Presently, the negotiations’ format comprises the R. Moldova, the self-proclaimed regime from Tiraspol, Russia, Ukraine, the OSCE, and the USA and EU as observers. According to BBC, the leader from Tiraspol, Igor Smirnov, called on the Transnistria’s inhabitants via an official statement to make a correct choice. “Remember what Moldova on one hand and Russia on the other gave to you. Compare advantages and disadvantages”, Smirnov underlined. Despite a lot of fuss around the referendum, the Transnistrian administration say it doesn’t have any legal effect, it is just consultative. “It is more of a plebiscite, a piece of advice from the people – which way to follow? If we will register a positive result, it will become a bill – amendments to our constitution, to be subject to a new referendum and then eventually adopted.” Transnistrian MP Grigore Maracuta, ex-speaker of the supreme soviet from 1990 to 2005, told BBC. However, Tiraspol’s authorities seem to be very prepared for the event. People started to vote on September 12. Separatist authorities allowed certain persons who would not be able to attend the referendum on Sunday to vote beforehand. Chisinau’s authorities criticized this referendum from the very beginning. “We believe this is neither a correct decision nor a proper stance of the administration from the left side of Nistru. All the problems should be settled within the frameworks of the current format of negotiations”, Moldovan Foreign minister Andrei Stratan said earlier. The Tiraspol’s referendum was criticized by numerous international organizations and almost all European countries, except for the Russian Federation. The Moscow based periodical “Nezavisimaia Gazeta” cites the Russian Foreign minister Serghei Lavrov who claims that the referendum cannot be regarded as an attempt to shaken the state of affairs in the region, but as a “try to draw attention on this unsolvable situation, or even as an act of despair”. Lavrov called for a “rational and detached” attitude towards the event, the essence of which is the necessity of resuming talks. The same newspaper cites Secretary General of the CoE, Terry Davis, according to whom the referendum is illegitimate as long as a political agreement on settling the dispute hasn’t emerged. This is the seventh referendum during those 16 years of the breakaway regime’s existence. 1.5 mln Transnistrian rubles (about USD 180 000) were allocated for carrying it out.