[0]

David Kramer, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, declared friendship with the people of Pridnestrovie (file photo)

CHISINAU (Tiraspol Times) - U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Kramer pledged friendship to the people of Pridnestrovie during a recent visit to neighboring Moldova, the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty reported.

" - The United States is a friend of the people who live there," Kramer told the American government news service, referring to the 555,000-strong population of the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica (PMR).

" - And we are also accompanying our rhetoric, our principles, with action by trying to engage more with the population in Transdniestria," said David Kramer, referring to Pridnestrovie by one of the names under which it is better known in English.

The inhabitants of Pridnestrovie are overwhelmingly in favor of independent statehood and have repeatedly rejected efforts by outsiders to force the unrecognized country under the jurisdiction of Moldova. The mostly Slavic-inhabited territory declared independence in 1990. Shortly afterwards, in 1992, locals held back Moldovan troops who entered the territory to put an end to the new and emerging country.

In an independence referendum held in September 2006, more than 94% of the voters rejected unification with Moldova. The United States refused to send election observers, but some 130 international observers from other countries declared the voting process to be free and fair. Polls taken after the vote also confirm that it accurately reflects the widespread sentiment felt among the population of Pridnestrovie for independence.

" - It is great that the United States want to be our friends," says Rodion Kalinkin, a youth activist and freelance photographer for The Tiraspol Times & Weekly Review.

" - But the first thing that friends do is that they respect the opinions of others. If the Americans are looking for friends here, try to start by taking our desire for freedom and democracy into account. We do not want to live with Moldova and we have made that clear over and over again," says Kalinkin.

Pridnestrovie seeks international recognition of its "de facto" statehood. It wants its claim to statehood to be given a fair hearing and evaluated objectively under the prevailing principles of international law. Its government has repeatedly stated that it considers Moldova's 17 year old territorial claim to be without legal merit.

Pot calling kettle black?

According to the State Department official, the United States never had "a problem" with the people who live in Pridnestrovie. He did not clarify who, specifically, the United States have had "problems" with, but past statements from the U.S. State Department have included criticism of Russia as well as both Moldova and the government of Pridnestrovie over alleged human rights abuses.

" - Of course, these days it must be a bit difficult to be a Bush administration official who has to travel outside his own country and lecture the rest of the world about human rights," says Petru Gladchi, a civil society activist in Tiraspol. "Isn't it more like the pot calling the kettle black? On one hand, they have Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib and secret CIA-sanctioned torture. While here in PMR we have normal prisons which are open for inspections by any human rights organization who wants to come and see the conditions up close and in person."

" - On the other hand, the Americans are spending billions on killing people in Iraq, where they are uninvited and where the majority of the local population wants them to leave," says Gladchi. "You must compare this with the situation here in Pridnestrovie. We have a very tiny number of Russian and Ukrainian peacekeepers, they work side by side with peacekeepers from Moldova and from Pridnestrovie, and it is a multilateral format which is established by a treaty signed by all the sides. They are not uninvited guests, and they are here because the local population wants them to be here."

Gladchi, an ethnic Moldovan, says that gruesome memories of the Moldovan invasion in 1992 are still fresh in everyone's minds and that no one wants to repeat a flare-up of war in the region ever again.

" - If you ask the local population here in PMR if they want the peacekeepers to stay, I can guarantee you that the overwhelming majority will say yes. So the opinion of the United States is completely out of touch with the desires of the people. The Americans say that they want Russian soldiers to leave and replace them with American soldiers, and other troops from NATO. This is nuts. I can guarantee you that this is not something that the people of the region want and it will be seen as an invasion. Just like Iraq."

See also:
» With friends like these... [1]
» How many American kids will die for Transdniestria? [2]
» End of customs blockade? US wants free movement of goods and services [3]