Ukraine MP in Transnistria: "This is just like home!"

Ekaterina Samoilyk, MP from Ukraine: "I feel very comfortable here, like at home, as if there were no borders between us"

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - Ekaterina Samoilyk, a member of Ukraine's state Rada (Parliament), visited the parliament of Transdniester (officially Pridnestrovie) on Friday to find out more about life and politics in the unrecognized country.

According to the Press Service of the PMR Parliament, parliamentarians from these two neighboring countries discussed the need for closer everyday contacts of people of both states. Ekaterina Samoilyk spoke about her impressions, saying "I felt very comfortable in Pridnestrovie, like at home, as if there were no borders between us, as if I had visited my next-door neighbor."

Along with ethnic Russians, ethnic Ukrainians form part of the majority Slavic population of Pridnestrovie. Two thirds of Pridnestrovie's population are Slavs, and a little under one third are Moldovans.

During her visit to PMR's parliament, Ekaterina Samoilyk, the Ukrainian Supreme Rada MP, was received by the chairperson of the Committee for education, science, culture, family and childhood, PMR MP Olga Gukalenko.

Interparliamentary cooperation issues and promotion of closer and more constructive contacts between Parliamentary Committees were under discussion at the meeting.

Lawmakers from Ukraine frequently visit their colleagues in nearby Transdniester, which for centuries was part of Ukraine's territory. It was never part of Moldova.

" - We discussed the so-called legitimacy of our education certificates on the territory of Ukraine," said Gukalenko. "We also discussed opportunities for granting citizenship to orphans, promoting culture, friendly relations and contacts with NGOs at the parliamentary level."

Old part of Ukraine

Ukrainian Supreme Rada MP Ekaterina Samoilyk also spoke about the opportunity of holding the Days of Pridnestrovie’s cultural program in Kherson, and furthermore invited her Pridnestrovian counterparts to take part in an upcoming Ukrainian family festival.

Pridnestrovie has always had a majority Slavic population, and at no time in history has Pridnestrovie ever been part of Romania, Moldova or of any independent Moldovan state.

In the past, Pridnestrovie was part of Ukraine. When the Soviet Union was founded, Pridnestrovie became part of the Ukrainian SSR. Tiraspol was the capital of an autonomous SSR which existed inside the Ukrainian SSR until 1940 when Soviet dictator Josef Stalin invaded Romania and merged the territory of Tiraspol with a newly acquired part of Romania to form the Moldavian SSR. The capital was moved to Chisinau, but when Moldova later sought independence, it denounced this act as illegal. In its own 1991 unilateral declaration of independence, the Republic of Moldova declared the consequences of the act null and void. (With information from vspmr.org)

See also:
» Slavic Pridnestrovie is birthplace of ancient Ukraine
» Ukraine's State Border Service says Transnistria is not a "black hole"