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NATO troops needed here? Transdniestria lives peacefully now, with not a single loss of life in the conflict since 1992

CHISINAU (Tiraspol Times) - Having given up on its hopes to ever bring Transdniestria under direct Moldovan control, some Moldovan commentators are now writing publicly that the independence-seeking territory should instead be put under NATO occupation or ruled by the United Nations. This would be preferably in case of a worsening of relations between Russia and the US which could have a direct impact on Transdniestria, the pro-Romanian Jurnal de Chisinau newspaper reported.

Observers think that for the United States, an interim solution could be putting Transdniestria under UN and NATO trusteeship.

" - The US seems to be set not only to curb Russia's revenge-seeking plans, but to defeat it on its own ground... Washington is trying to freeze Moscow out of the Caucasus and Ukraine. It witnessed its cooperation with Georgia and signs of a shift in the relations with Armenia... As regards Transnistria, its interest lies in securing the eastern borders of the EU and Ukraine," wrote the Jurnal de Chisinau, October 26.

The model of a UN trusteeship backed by a NATO occupation is similar to the current situation in Kosovo. There, some 16,000 NATO troops are keeping a fragile peace, in comparison to Transdniestria where a mere 1,000 peacekeepers have successfully ensured that not a single life has been lost since Moldova signed a ceasefire which halted its war against the unrecognized country in 1992.

End game

In Tiraspol, the Moldovan proposal is seen as an "end game" in consequence of the fact that Moldovans are realizing that they will never be able to exercise their rule over Transdniestria against the will of the Transdniestrian population.

" - The Moldovans know that none of us here want to be part of their country. We just want our freedom and independence," says Petru Gladchi, an ethnic Moldovan and civil rights activist in Tiraspol.

" - But they say that anything is better than our independence. So now that they have basically given up and thrown in the towel, they are trying to come up with other ways of preventing us from getting our own state. They are frantically searching for alternatives, and one of them is to let the United Nations rule us, and another suggestion is to bring in NATO troops and have them rule us," he explained.

Gladchi thinks that the best solution is the most simple: Just recognize the existing situation, where the 550,000 inhabitants of Transdniestria already live peacefully and in ethnic harmony, and are ruling themselves through their own freely elected government institutions.

" - Just recognize the existing reality and face it, we are an independent country. That will solve the whole issue once and for all, without the need for NATO troops or a big international bureaucracy here."

See also:
» Foreign Ministry rejects U.S. troops in Transdniestria [1]
» PMR Pres: "Plans to get rid of existing peacekeepers is provocation" [2]

Opinion and commentary:
» How many American kids will die for Transdniestria? [3]