The actions taken by the Transnistrian administration in Bender have two dimensions – the wish to fully control the town and the attempt to improve the image of Transnistria’s leader, said Leonid Litra, senior researcher at the Institute of World Policy in Kiev, who was asked by IPN to comment on the Transnistrian administration’s decision to relocate the so-called supreme soviet from Tiraspol to Bender.

“I think the decision of the Transnistrian leader is very dangerous for maintaining a positive climate around the so-called small steps policy. Moreover, this decision shows that small steps are taken, but in another direction and are aimed at maximally damaging the trust between the Moldovan authorities and the de facto authorities of the Transnistrian region,” said Leonid Litra.

He also said that there are at least two dimensions of this decision. “The first, and the most important, is that they want to exert additional pressure on Bender and on Moldova so as to gain full control over this town, and the recent incidents confirmed this intention. The second is that this is a PR method that the Transnistrian leader employees in order to alleviate the effects of the incidents that happened several weeks ago, said the researcher.

Earlier, the Transnistrian administration banned the Moldovan policeman from moving via Bender in uniform and then tried to disconnect the two Moldovan-administered penitentiaries in Bender from public utilities and set up two additional checkpoints near Varnita. As a result of the intervention of the central bodies and international organizations, the checkpoints were removed