Vladimir Yastrebchak’s Address to Mass Media

VLADIMIR YASTREBCHAK,
Acting Foreign Minister of the Transnistrian Moldovan Republic, Tiraspol

The goal of Transnistrian leader Igor Smirnov’s visit to Moscow was to continue the work with the Russian authorities that we had been carrying out for the whole period of the development of Transnistria and our relations with Russia.

We had consultations in Russia’s Foreign Ministry and other Russian federal agencies dealing with the Transnistrian conflict settlement and the Russia-Transnistria cooperation.

Today we certainly give priority to the issue of unstable financial and economic situation in the world. It will inevitably affect Transnistria one way or another. For the time being the world financial crisis hasn't fully told on Transnistria’s economy but we expect that in November the crisis will influence the people’s well-being and Transnistria’s economic development. The situation is under control but we are not isolated from the world. We understand that Russia, which is much more hurt by the financial crisis, has its own problems but we hope that Moscow will understand our arguments in particular since the Russian companies are operating in Transnistria.

The Russian Federation has already rendered assistance to Transnistria. In 2006 when Moldova and Ukraine tried to impose a new customs regime, Transnistria got financial assistance from Russia. This year Russia renders financial assistance to Tiraspol in some socially important points (additional payments to pensioners who have Russian citizenship, provision of educational institutions with food etc). We are interested in this assistance and in support to our budget, particularly in the situation of the economic crisis. We are also interested in ensuring the social programs and in backing the stability of the Transnistrian currency rate. We have sent appropriate requests to the Russian authorities and hope that they will be examined. For our part we are ready to ensure the accountability and transparency of spending those funds, as we did before.

At present, the transfer of Transnistrian share in "Moldovagaz" to the Russian monopoly "Gazprom" is being discussed. Not only does Transnistria raise the issue of this share transfer but it also wants to conclude treaties directly with "Gazprom", which would allow the Russian company to get extra guarantees of receiving the money for the gas consumed by Transnistria. The two sides are carrying out the work and they are charged with concluding a direct treaty.

We have also discussed the bilateral cooperation in the social sphere in accordance with the agreements achieved in 2006. It is the protocol signed by Transnistria’s President Igor Smirnov and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov. Later on, a whole number of inter-agency agreements were signed, but the potential of bilateral cooperation is not used fully. Nevertheless, we hope that this process will develop.

Igor Smirnov and the Russian authorities have also discussed the Transnistrian conflict settlement. We told our Russian colleagues that the Transnistrian side was honoring its obligations on organizing and holding the meeting with the Moldovan authorities. We hope that the meeting will take place in the foreseeable future. It would be extremely important for Transnistria to get response to the proposals that were submitted in April, 2008. This is a draft of the Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation between Moldova and Transnistria. We would like to get a definite and well-reasoned answer at the level this document was submitted. The second subject, which is of fundamental importance to us (especially in the light of the recent Caucasian events), is the parties’ clear obligations not to use force against each other, not to put economic, political, information and other kinds of pressure on each other and not to take any unilateral measures that could increase tension in the region. It is clear that the military aspect of our conflict is lower than that of the Caucasian war. But given the current situation, the possibility of unfreezing the conflict through the socioeconomic leverage is more dangerous. Our Moldovan partners have many resources to influence the situation.

As regards the influence of the Caucasian events on the EU's attitude towards Transnistria, it is difficult to talk about the drastic change in the EU position. However, the EU came to apprehend slightly more that the decision may be taken by the Transnistrian, Moldovan and Russian parties when they are in direct contact with each other. In August and September the international community said several times that the decision could be found only in the sole legitimate “5+2” format and that the agreements in the “2+1” format would not be achieved.  

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