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Defending himself against charges of incompetence and corruption, PMR's Foreign Minister Valeri Litskai looks beat

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - Looking tired and beat, Pridnestrovie's Foreign Minister Valeri Litskai appeared before a marathon-session in the unrecognized country's Parliament on Wednesday to defend himself against charges of incompetence and ministerial corruption.

" - We now have 65 people working in the PMR Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the current time," said the minister without addressing key questions such as why Pridnestrovie has not yet opened effective diplomatic missions abroad or where the 1.5M euros spent on foreign representative offices ended up.

Litskai failed to give information on the work of representative diplomatic offices in countries such as Russia and Ukraine, but limited himself to noting that "a significant part of the the activity of our Foreign Ministry was assigned to consular work involving the protection of the rights and the legitimate interests of PMR's citizens abroad."

Not content with Valeri Litskai's evasive answers, the PMR Parliament nevertheless agreed to put him on probation for a period of three months before deciding whether he will stay on as Foreign Minister or whether it is time to ask the President to name a replacement. By July, Litskai will again have to appear before Members of Parliament and report on steps taken to increase the effectiveness of the unrecognized country's diplomatic efforts.

Among a series of well-publicized blunders, the diplomat picked "unnecessary fights" with Bulgaria and Romania, Tiraspol Times reported earlier.

No significant foreign policy results

Effective immediately, Parliament has established an oversight group to closely supervise the Foreign Ministry's work over the next three months. The committee operates uner Sergei Cheban, head of the PMR's Parliament's Committee for Foreign Policy and International Relations.

The lawmakers order the Foreign Minister "to take the necessary measures for activating the work of the Foreign Ministry towards the direction of the effective realization of the PMR's foreign policy concepts." The foreign policy concepts, a roadmap outlining the key tenets of the unrecognized country's foreign policy goals, were approved by Parliament in 2005 but have since been largely ignored by what is increasingly seen as a stagnant and dormant Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to a leading Tiraspol legislator, Parliament's concern over Litskai's performance stems from a lack of any significant foreign policy results. During a period in which the Serbian province of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence and obtained formal diplomatic recognition from nearly forty countries, the Foreign Ministry of the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica (PMR) has been unable to obtain recognition from a single country despite a better claim to statehood, a longer existence and a clearer legal and historical right to independence.

Meeting all statehood requirements

Pridnestrovie, which is also known under names such as Trans-Dniester or Transnistria, declared independence in 1990. The new and emerging country meets or exceeds all the requirements for sovereign statehood under international law.

Valeri Litskai has recently received strong criticism from a number of influential political figures in Pridnestrovie, including former Speaker of PMR's Parliament Grigore Maracutsa. Maracutsa, an ethnic Moldovan who represents Pridnestrovie's Moldovan minority, is strongly in favor of independence and can not understand why the Ministry is not engaged in active outreach for securing international recognition of Pridnestrovie's de facto statehood.

The new country's independence turns 18 years old in September of 2008. It declared independence one year before Moldova, while they were both part of the now-defunct Soviet Union. Located to the east of the Dniester river, the territory which makes up Pridnestrovie has never been a historical part of any independent Moldovan state at any time in the past.

See also:
» PMR Parliament to take Foreign Minister to task for diplomatic failures [1]
» New face set to replace Transnistria's Foreign Minister [2]
» PMR's ex-Speaker criticizes Foreign Minister for lack of action [3]

Opinion and commentary:
» "Lethargic" PMR foreign policy comes under scrutiny [4]
» Bumps in the road for Pridnestrovie's foreign policy [5]