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No smugglers in sight: European Union officials on Pridnestrovie's border confirm that no weapons smuggling takes place here

ODESSA (Tiraspol Times) - During its 9th meeting held in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa this week, the Advisory Board of the European Union Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM) considered reports about the most recent work of the Mission which is stationed mainly on the border between Ukraine and Pridnestrovie.

As with earlier EUBAM reports, this time was no exception and the mission noted a complete absence of arms trafficking or weapons smuggling of any kind from the unrecognized country, which is better known under the unofficial names of Transdniestria, Trans-Dniester or Transnistria.

" - Like always, no cases were uncovered of any smuggling of weapons, narcotics and human trafficking through the Ukrainian-Transdniestrian border. This fact was recorded in the latest report on the activities of the EUBAM mission," noted Olvia Press in its summary of the report.

The Odessa session assessed the first results of and plans for the 5th phase of the Mission's work, from December 2007 to November 2008. According to Infotag, the meeting was chaired by Dirk Schuebel, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation in Ukraine.

Weapons smuggling claims as anti-PMR propaganda

The Head of the Mission, general Ferenc Banfi, presented the Mission's Annual Report for 2007 on the observations, work and recommendations of the Mission in cooperation with its partners and described its activities in January and February 2008.

Since EUBAM began its work in 2005, it has been unable to document any of Moldova's charges against Pridnestrovie over alleged arms trafficking. Before the arrival of European Union monitors on Pridnestrovie's border, Moldovan government officials routinely claimed that Pridnestrovie (or Transnistria, as the state is referred to in Moldova) was "a black hole" in which numerous criminal acts took place. The work of the EUBAM mission since 2005 has been able to disprove these claims as mere anti-Pridnestrovie propaganda.

Successive reports from the EU Border Assistance Mission affirmed what the government of Pridnestrovie has stated throughout the years: Namely that it does not produce weapons and that the unrecognized country is not a "gangster enclave" which is engaged in smuggling, human trafficking, production of illegal drugs or drug trafficking, etc.

Third year of EU monitors on borders

The EU Border Assistance Mission was launched on November 30, 2005. The Mission is funded by the European Commission. A number of EU Member States are also providing contributions in kind by funding secondments of border professionals from their national services to the Mission.

Despite now being in its third year of work on the border, EU border assistance monitors have not yet uncovered a single case of any weapons smuggling or weapons production from Pridnestrovie. Valeri Litskai, Pridnestrovie's Foreign Minister, says that this is because Pridnestrovie simply doesn't engage in this sort of trade. "You will never be able to find any evidence of something that doesn't exist," he said in 2007. "Despite whatever Moldova claims, we have never done anything like that."

The border between Pridnestrovie and Ukraine is 470 kilometers long. Moldova, which has a territorial claim to Pridnestrovie, has no territorial control of this border. The border posts are manned by law enforcement personnel loyal to the government of the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica (PMR).

Apart from the their presence on the Pridnestrovie-Ukraine border, EU border monitors also patrol the borders between Moldova and Ukraine which exist both north and south of Pridnestrovie. (With information from Infotag, Olvia Press, EUBAM)

See also:
» Moldova admits that Transnistria now has a clean public image [1]
» No weapons smuggling from Transdniestria, EU border monitors say [2]
» Experts rule out weapons smuggling from Transnistria [3]
» Ukraine's State Border Service says Transnistria is not a "black hole" [4]
» EU confirms absence of weapons smuggling [5]