Russia says "Istanbul Commitments" complied for Transdniestria, Abkhazia

"Russia has long ago carried out all of its CFE obligations," says Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, the country's military chief of staff

MOSCOW (Tiraspol Times) - It is Russia's view that the country has fulfilled its obligations under the alleged "Istanbul Commitments", consisting of amendments to the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty which was renegotiated with NATO in Istanbul in 1999.

This means that the peacekeeping format will stay unchanged in Transdniestria, causing locals to breathe a collective sigh of relief after fears that they would have been left defenseless if Russia had been forced by the United States to withdraw its "blue helmets" from the buffer zone on the Dniester river. Russia has participated in a four-country multilateral peacekeeping force ever since a ceasefire was signed in 1992, following Moldovan attacks on civilians in Transdniestria.

" - Russia has long ago carried out all agreements made in Istanbul which are related to the CFE treaty," Russia's military chief of staff, Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, told the State Duma (lower house of Parliament) in Moscow on Wednesday.

The Duma voted to suspend the treaty which dates back to the Soviet era and is considered outdated by military analysts. Until now, the treaty has been signed and ratified by Russia, which has observed its provisions to the letter. No NATO member country has ever ratified it, and the West has therefore not adhered to the rules stipulated by the treaty. This, says Russia, is one-sided and unfair.

Sergei Lavrov, Russia's Foreign Minister: "Russia fulfilled all its obligations, including the stay of troops and military bases in Georgia and Moldova, as well as the ratification of the Adapted CFE Treaty"

" - Foreign states will control our operations on our own territory," a high-ranking source told the Izvestia daily.

Russia's military chief of staff, Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, said that Russia inside its own national borders, must have the right "to reposition, deploy and create forces where needed to protect the interests and security of our country."

Istanbul commitments complied with in full

Under revised conditions which the West imposed on Russia during the Boris Yeltsin presidency, Russia was allegedly supposed to remove all military personnel from Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transdniestria, three "frozen conflict" zones bordering Georgia and Moldova, respectively. This is how NATO and its partner, Moldova, portrays the so-called Istanbul Commitments. Russia does not agree with this interpretation.

The treaty, which the West has never ratified, has been complied with in full, says General Yuri Baluyevsky, and that includes the Istanbul amendments.

According to him, as far as Moldova is concerned, Russia fulfilled its obligations completely before the deadline of November 2001. By that time, it had reduced its conventional armaments in the region to zero.

Since 1999, Russia has withdrawn armaments, munitions and personnel from Transdniestria (Pridnestrovie). There are no troops in Moldova, and the only troops which remain in Transdniestria today are dedicated to peacekeeping duties under the ceasefire agreement signed by Moldova in 1992, as well as to guarding an old ammunitions dump.

Foreign Ministry agrees

The official position of Russia's Foreign Ministry is the same: Russia has kept its commitments under the revised CFE treaty and does not need to do anything more in relation to Transdniestria or Abkhazia.

" - Russia fulfilled all its obligations, including the stay of troops and military bases in Georgia and Moldova, as well as the ratification of the Adapted CFE Treaty,” Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told official news agency Itar-Tass on 7 November.

Meanwhile, a source in the U.S. Department of State said that the United States requires Russia to take away weapons and peacekeepers from Transdniestria, as a condition for letting NATO ratify the treaty. But the chief Russian negotiator at the 1999 Istanbul talks says that this is "a cunning and perfidious position."

Leonid Ivashov, currently the president of the Russian Geopolitical Studies Academy, says that "the United States sets an unfeasible ultimatum to Russia by linking the CFE ratification with the demand to withdraw Russian troops from Georgia and Transdniestria."

" - I headed the working group at the summit in Istanbul in 1999. I can confirm that the two joint statements signed by Russia with Georgia and with Moldova really helped the Adapted CFE’s success. The current situation is such that Russia will completely withdraw from Georgia by the end of the year," Ivashow told Kommersant.

" - Meanwhile, the situation in Transdniestria is absolutely different. There are huge deposits of armaments and ammunition. Moreover, the ammunition’s expiry date passed long time ago. Russia keeps forces of around 1,500 people there, just to guard that unsafe military equipment so as to prevent technogenic disaster. There also is a political reason: the current Transdniestrian authorities do not agree to the armaments removal. And here is the U.S. setting an ultimatum to Russia. It is a cunning and perfidious position," he stated.

See also:
» Russia has complied with Istanbul agreements, its NATO official says
» Transdniester peacekeepers continue with Russian participation
» "Simplified ideas" and use of force against Pridnestrovie rejected at OSCE summit