Ukraine's people recognize PMR's referendum; foreign minister doesn't

Borys Tarasyuk refusal of Pridnestrovie's right to referendum is not shared by the voters and people of Ukraine

KIEV (Tiraspol Times) - Although an international human rights group has recognized Pridnestrovie's right to a referendum, and the majority of the voters in Ukraine support this right, too, the Ministry of Foreign of Ukraine has publicly declared that it will not validate the results of the referendum. A spokesman for Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk (pictured) declared that Ukraine will not send official observers to referendum in Pridnestrovie to take place on September 17.

" - "Ukraine announces that it will not recognize the results of this referendum," Ukraine's Foreign Ministry press service head Andrei Deshitsa said at a Tuesday briefing in Kiev, commenting on the official Ukrainian position on the elections in Pridnestrovie, also known internationally as Transnistria.

Official Ukrainian observers will not monitor the referendum. "Naturally, there will be no official observers in this case," he said.

This statement is at odds with the position held by the majority of ordinary people in Ukraine, many of whom feel kinship with their fellow Slavs in Pridnestrovie and support the unrecognized republic's right to democratically choose its own future.

As reported by the Regnum news agency, the Union of Orthodox Citizens of Ukraine has come out with a statement supporting Pridnestrovie's right to independence. It's president, Valery Kaurov, says that "believers support Pridnestrovie and disapprove of the policy of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry."

" - This is a policy of double standards: on the one hand, they in the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry say that they are ready to resume the peace talks in the ‘5+2’ format, but, on the other, they deny the right of people of Pridnestrovie to conduct a referendum, refuse to send their observers and are not lifting their economic blockade of the republic. That’s why we, the Orthodox people, pray for our brothers in Pridnestrovie — clergymen and believers. We hope that this misunderstanding between the two brotherly nations will be overcome. We hope that the whole of Eastern Slavonic civilization will shortly reunite and Pridnestrovie will certainly be part of it."

In a press release sent to celebrate the 16th year anniversary of Pridnestrovie's proclamation of independence, The Union says: “We are all members of one great family of Slavonic nations based on the firm foundations of Holy Orthodoxy. We, the Orthodox people, cannot stand aside from this holiday – the Day of Independence of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic.”

The sentiments of the Union of Orthodox Citizens are supported by the majority of Ukrainians, including the voters of president Viktor Yushchenko and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Current policy supported by a minority of Ukrainians

Borys Tarasyuk is the founder of the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation (IEAC), a political action committee established to campaign for NATO- and European Union memberships in Ukraine. The group is funded by Western donations and is open about its goals to the extreme that the IEAC' logo juxtaposes the flag of Ukraine with the logos of NATO and the European Union. However, polls cited by Tarasyuk show that only between 18% and 22% of Ukraine's population support NATO-membership.

Tarasyuk has used his proxy, The Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation, to influence Ukraine's state policy in the past, often to the detriment of Ukraine and against the will of the majority of voters. In a recent case, a report produced by his institute outlined changes that should be made to Ukraine's customs regime to put pressure on Pridnestrovie. On 3 March 2006, less than five weeks after the report's publication, the changes were implemented and signed into law, resulting in heavy losses for both Pridnestrovie and Ukraine and prompting a border customs conflict between the two.

Political opponents have publicly voiced complaints about the double role of Borys Tarasyuk as an advocate for external interests and his quest for pursuing a foreign policy not in line with the best interests of Ukraine and, as the polls show, contrary to what a vast majority of Ukraine's population wants.

Although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, obeying the personal preferences of Tarasyuk, will not be sending official observers to monitor the referendum, major political parties and elected officials from Ukraine have announced that they will participate as international observers. Along with prominent leaders of Ukraine's largest party, the Party of Regions, former presidential candidate Natalia Vitrenko will also join the observers of the poll, stating to the press that:
" - How can we say that a referendum is conducted illegally or that it does not comply with democratic standards if we don't at least go there and observe the process first-hand? It is hyopocritical to claim that Pridnestrovie is not democratic, yet at the same time deny the people their right to a democratic and internationally supervised vote."

Ukrainian roots

Pridnestrovie has traditionally been part of Ukraine, itself historically a part of either Russia or the Soviet Union. After a brief period of independence (1917-1921) following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Ukraine became one of the founding Soviet Republics in 1922. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic's territory was enlarged at the time of World War II, roughly at the same time that Moldova was incorporated into the Soviet Union with the creation of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic which incorporated Moldova and Pridnestrovie, until then a component part of the Ukrainian SSR.

The creation of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, or MSSR for short, marked the first time in history that the territory which is today known as Pridnestrovie ever joined Moldova. Historically separate and ethnically different, until Soviet dictator Stalin created MSSR in World War II, the Dniester river had traditionally been the international border separating Romanian-populated lands to the West and Slavic-populated lands to the East.

Ukraine became independent again after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, as did Moldova. A year prior - in 1990 - Pridnestrovie had already declared its independence from the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, and by the time that the Republic of Moldova was founded, it had effectively left the Stalin-imposed union and had been independent for a year. Approximately two-thirds of the population in Pridnestrovie are Slavs, compared to a mere 14 percent in Moldova.