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Louis O'Neill, Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, is wanted for questioning in a smuggling case (Photo: Claus Neukirch, OSCE)MOSCOW (Tiraspol Times) - Russia’s Interior Ministry has summoned Louis O'Neill, the American head of OSCE's Moldova mission, to Moscow for interrogation in relation to a smuggling case of valuable Russian artwork.
Associated Press reported that O’Neill is suspected of smuggling and Moscow will add him to Interpol's international wanted list if he fails to face the investigators.
Louis F. O'Neill was detained in late March in Moscow Domodedovo Airport during a routine customs check.
According to official information released by Russia's Interior Ministry, he attempted to leave the country with a total of 75 Soviet posters. The posters, most of them from the 1920's and 1930's, were hidden in five cardboard rolls. The original artwork were by famous Soviet artists Viktor Deni and Dmitry Moor and export of such artifacts is strictly regulated.
O’Neil could provide no documents sanctioning the export of posters of obvious cultural value, the law enforcement officers noted.
The posters were seized by law enforcement, but their owner fled from Russia, claiming diplomatic immunity as the head of the OSCE mission in Moldova. Later, investigators found out that he was bluffing: There is no such diplomatic immunity for foreign diplomats, not accredited in Russia, for crimes committed in Russian territory. By then, it was too late and O'Neill had already fled the country.
A criminal case has now been opened on smuggling count which sets forth imprisonment of up to seven years. The misrepresentation and abuse of diplomatic immunity will possibly be dealt with as a separate case by the U.S. State Department.
At the time of the discovery of the alleged crime, the value of the smuggled goods was estimated at US$ 70,000. Some experts estimate that at auctions in the United States, the artwork would fetch up to a quarter of a million dollars.
- Pridnestrovie criticizes OSCE double standards
Under the leadership of Louis O'Neill, the OSCE Mission in Moldova has repeatedly been criticized for its biased and partisan stance against Pridnestrovie's independence, and for engaging in double standards which only take the position of one side of the conflict - Moldova - into account.
Historic poster by Dmitry Moor which is considered part of Russia's heritage. Smugglers sell these posters to collectors for thousands of dollars.
While the OSCE has stated that it prefers a peaceful and democratic solution, it failed to send observers to last year's independence referendum. Later, O'Neill announced that the referendum was not free and fair, although Pridnestrovie - which is called Transnistria in OSCE parlance - openly wondered how he could reach such a conclusion if he did not send a single observer to withess the election process in person.
O'Neill came to his post from the U.S. State Department, although unnamed analysts in Chisinau also claim that he - like his predecessor in the post, fellow American William Hill - is closely connected to the Central Intelligence Agency as well.
Hill, who left the post in 2006, made no secret of his CIA background when in the company of close colleagues. In the case of O'Neill, however, no personal admission has been forthcoming and at least one commentator in Tiraspol seriously doubts that there is any truth to the CIA allegations.
Historic poster by Viktor Deni, a piece of artwork which is part of Russia's heritage and sought after by smugglers and private collectors worldwide.
" - If he was with the CIA, at least he wouldn't be so ignorant about Pridnestrovie's position under international law," says Roman Konoplev, editor-in-chief at the Lenta PMR news agency.
" - But O'Neill shows a lack of knowledge that is simply not the sign of a professional. He acts like a politician with an axe to grind, and not like an analyst or even a diplomat."
- State Department positions
During the tenure of O'Neill, OSCE's role in conflict mediation has become increasingly irrelevant and removed from reality, with the organization's Head of Mission to Moldova preferring to parrot the position of the U.S. State Department rather than observing the full range of opinions of all 56 member countries of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
The inflexible U.S. State Department line towards Pridnestrovie's statehood aspirations is focused exclusively on the removal of Russian peacekeepers and Russian influence from the area, despite the fact that the population sees Russia as the only credible guarantee that can prevent an outbreak of armed conflict.
The American stance clashes with its own position on Kosovo, where Washington believes that territorial integrity of an existing country is less important than the democratic right to self-determination. In Pridnestrovie, this right has been expressed six times through consecutive peaceful referenda which state over and over again that the voters - including the Moldovan minority among Pridnestrovie's population - want freedom, democracy and independence and have no desire whatsoever to become part of a unified state with Moldova at any time in the future.
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» Unfounded claims inflame Tiraspol; OSCE flag burns [1]