Moldova decomissions old rockets amid military spending spree

Under the guise of disarming, Moldova is scrapping outdated Uragans (shown in file photo) and upgrading its weaponry

CHISINAU (Tiraspol Times) - According to a Moldovan political analyst and peace activist, Yevgeny Sholar, under cover of talks about demilitarizing, in reality an aggressive rearming of Moldova's military is taking place and renewed war on Pridnestrovie is a very real risk.

" - On July 25, at the same training ground in Bulboaca, where North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) large-scale military exercises are to be held soon, Moldova's army pathetically destroyed three Uragan 220 millimeter rockets in the presence of various military observers. Moldovan officials immediately started talking about alleged disarmament of the Republic of Moldova and called upon Pridnestrovie to disarm too," Sholar informed journalists in Chisinau, the capital of Pridnestrovie's next-door neighbor, Moldova.

" - However, it is nothing but a myth designed for foreign consumption. It is a PR action to cover up the true actions that are really taking place in the Moldovan Army under the guidance of NATO instructors. It is no secret that the NATO-Moldova Individual Partnership Action Plan, which was approved on 22 May 2006, envisions no disarmament at all, but rather a ‘rearmament and modernization’ of the Moldovan Army in accordance to North Atlantic Treaty Organization standards," says Sholar.

As reported by Moldpres, its official state news agency, Moldova's Lunga-Merkulesht air unit has in recent months been upgraded to NATO specificiations. In a related move on 18 May, the Moldovan parliament adopted a law allowing foreign troops of Western origin to freely enter Moldovan territority without the need for prior visas or permits. Pointedly, the law did not grant the same privileges to Russian troops despite the fact that Russia and Moldova are fellow members of CIS, the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Large-scale NATO Longbow/Lancer-2006 military exercises are to be held in Bulboaca and other parts of Moldova between September 11-29, to coincide with the period of an independence referendum in Pridnestrovie just 40 miles away. According to its Constitution, the Republic of Moldova is nominally neutral.

New OSCE head: Conned - or complicit?

After witnessing the destruction of what Moldova claims to be its last Soviet-era Uragan rockets, the new Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, Ambassador Louis O'Neill, immediately called on the authorities of Pridnestrovie to follow the Moldovan example and to cut its military capacity:

" - I call on all those involved, first of all on the Transnistrian authorities, to accept the destruction of the Uragan rockets at Bulboaca as a starting point for constructive talks on the CSBMs package and to take concrete steps towards arms control and disarmament," the Head of Mission said.

It is unclear whether Louis O'Neill, at the time less than a week into his new job, had been conned by his Moldovan hosts into believing that they were actually intent on disarming, or whether the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) was complicitly calling on only one side to reduce its self-defense capacity; knowing that Moldova is busy planning for rearmament of its military and modernization of its attack capabilities.

Like his predecessor, O'Neill is an American citizen. Since its formation a decade and a half ago, the OSCE Mission to Moldova has been headed solely by Americans. Pridnestrovie has accused the Mission of bias and of applying double standards when dealing with either of the two sides in the conflict.

No Uragans in PMR

Answering OSCE, Pridnestrovie's spokesman Oleg Gudymo asserted his population's right to defend itself against the risk of future attacks and stated that the country can not demilitarize as long as Moldova insists on pursuing an aggressive and confrontational policy towards Pridnestrovie.

Gudymo, former deputy state security minister and now the head of Pridnestrovie's parliamentary committee for defence, security and peacekeeping activities, said that "there can be no real demilitarization given the fact that Moldova has very sharp teeth and aggressive plans towards the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica."

According to him, the OSCE and Moldova can "keep dreaming about the day that Pridnestrovie has nothing". Another reason cited by Oleg Gudymo was that "Pridnestrovie has no Uragan rockets because all these artillery systems are located in Moldova."

In the breakup of the Soviet Union, Pridnestrovie - also known as Transnistria - declared independence in 1990 and has maintained effective control of its sovereignty ever since. With the aid of Russian volunteers and Cossack forces, the country succesfully defended itself against a Moldovan invasion attempt in 1992 in a brief but bloody war that left an estimated 1,000 people dead. Moldova has not recognized Pridnestrovie's declaration of independence and still maintains a territorial claim on the unrecognized country.

Despite being co-founder and a major component of a multinational peacekeeping force in the region, Moldova last month called for its immediate abolishment, a move which Sholar sees as the preparation for a renewal of armed hostilities.