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One of Pridnestrovie's border crossings with Ukraine: Now, Ukraine confidently confirms that a "black hole" simply doesn't exist

KIEV (Tiraspol Times) - The State Border Service of Ukraine states that there is no such thing as a "black hole" in Pridnestrovie, refuting comments made just days ago by Ukraine's foreign minister.

" - The experts from the European Union mission have established that on this part of the border the situation is controlled and a so-called "black hole", about which the politician speaks, simply doesn't exist there", said the press service the Ukrainian government agency.

On 22 June 2007, at the news conference convened to cover the results of the 6th quarterly meeting the Advisory Board of the EU Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM) held in Odessa, the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Arsenii Yatseniuk stated that "Pridnestrovie continues to be a black hole." However, at the same time he also characterized the EUBAM activities as effective. He furthermore correctly pointed out that the volume of detected contraband is low.

Dismissing any talk of a "black hole" in PMR as wrong and misleading, the State Border Service of Ukraine says that since 2006 a permanent mission from the European Union has been constantly patrolling the border and checking exports from Pridnestrovie.

Pridnestrovie has effective control of its own borders. There is an acceptable level of cooperation with the border police in Ukraine.

In its press release of the State Border Service of Ukraine the "black hole" myth was dismissed as not based on any facts. Not mincing any words, the State Border Service noted that "such statements are groundless."

EU agrees: No black hole here

" - There are no signs of weapons smuggling from the Transnistrian region," said EUBAM head Ferenc Banfi in October 2006. Since then, the EU monitoring mission has been continuing its work on Pridnestrovie's borders and checked its exports.
" - From the moment of the beginning of the work of the border mission we have found no evidence of any weapons smuggling," Banfi concluded categorically.

The EUBAM findings, highlighting a complete lack of weapons smuggling, match similar results recently reported by other international organizations. A report recently published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), gives Pridnestrovie - which is called Transdniestria in the text - high marks for arms control. It confirms that the country does not produce weapons, and is not involved in arms smuggling and trafficking of any kind.

In their government-funded survey, British weapons inspectors and arms experts confirm that there is currently transparency and good levels of co-operation with the government of the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica (PMR) in the field of weapons control.

Trading insults and accusations

In a war of words, Moldova has continuously accused Pridnestrovie of being a "black hole" which is involved, among other things, in the international arms trade.

However, one year ago - in June of 2006 - OSCE's then-Ambassador William Hill categorically stated that there is no evidence of any weapons manufacture or weapons export from Pridnestrovie. In a press conference, the American head of the Moldovan OSCE mission refuted all such claims of weapons smuggling.

In February 2006, an international team of arms inspectors toured factories in Tiraspol and Bender which Moldova claimed were producing weapons. In their report to the international community these observers reported that no evidence of any arms production had been found. OSCE ambassadors inspected the Kolbasna arms storage facility later that same year.

A report by Radio Free Europe attributes the unsubstantiated claims of weapons smuggling to destabilizing efforts by the Moldovan government to increase pressure on Pridnestrovie at a time when the unrecognized country is seeking formal recognition and integration into the international community. Moldova and Pridnestrovie frequently trade insults and accusations.

Pridnestrovie - which is also known as Transnistria - has continually denied the allegations, pointing to a complete lack of evidence and the exaggerated nature of the claims.

See also:
» EU confirms absence of weapons smuggling [1]
» PMR cracks down on American "drumstick smuggling" [2]