Sorin Mereacre, director of East Europe Foundation, said the “small steps” policy can no way resolve the Transnistrian dispute. What the “small steps” policy can do is to bring closer the people, values, possibly infrastructure projects. Without a political decision of those from Moscow, this conflict cannot be settled in any circumstances, IPN reports.
“I personally do not think that the “small steps” policy is a solution that will help resolve this so-called conflict. I consider the presence of the official army of the Russian Federation in the Transnistrian region and the fact that the so-called army of Transnistria and the police there take part in training exercises together with the Russian army and receive support and armament and everything they need from officers and the Government of the Russian Federation show that Russia somehow unconditionally supports the existence of Transnistria as a separatist region in the Republic of Moldova,” Sorin Mereacre stated in an interview for RFE/RL’s Moldovan Service.
He noted that this dispute cannot be resolved without a political decision of Moscow, especially after the developments in eastern Ukraine, where an official Russian army is not even deployed. “In case of a foreign presence, especially of Russia, one has no instrument to somehow settle this conflict. It is impossible to resolve it by through arms as we cannot cope with Russia. That’s why I said that a political decision of the Russian Federation allowing for the country’s reunification is needed. The rest are discussions like the “Kozak-2” plan or other issues,” said Sorin Mereacre.
According to him, the people grew up with different values. It is the end of 2019 and almost 30 years have passed since the start of the conflict on the Nistru River. Those who were born in that region in that period are now 30 years old. “I spoke to many of them. They consider they are citizens of Transnistria. They look at the Republic of Moldova as at a foreign state at their border. We should take this fact into account and cannot neglect it. (…). So, I think the population will pose a rather serious challenge and difficulty in the normal integration between the two banks in the future.”
