NATO wargames on Pridnestrovie's border criticized as "political blunder"

Graffiti: In Moldova, political parties want to stop NATO moves planned near the conflict zone with Pridnestrovie

CHISINAU (Tiraspol Times) - The National Republican Party of Moldova, NRP, has demanded that the country's leadership cancel the NATO Longbow/Lancer maneuvers scheduled to be held near the border with Pridnestrovie - also known as Transnistria - from September 11 to 29. Moldova does not recognize Pridnestrovie's sixteen year old independence, claiming that the unrecognized country should be part of Moldova.

The maneuvers are a "crude violation of the constitutional principle of neutrality and a political blunder that will only complicate the Transnistrian conflict settlement process," NRP chairman Nicolae Andronic said recently at a press conference.

He reminded journalists that the National Republican Party had repeatedly spoken out for demilitarization because there exists a whole set of external and domestic factors presenting a constant hazard to Moldova's security.

" - Holding maneuvers in Moldova on the eve of the September 17 referendum and presidential elections in Transdniestria will provide desirable results for the leaders of the separatist regime. Now President Voronin's Party of Communists has given them a new argument - NATO's presence in Moldova."

" - Articles that cast doubt over the republic's status as a neutral state" must be excluded from the NATO Individual Partnership Plan, he said.

The party has proposed to impose a moratorium on any military exercises with foreign participation in Moldova until a lasting solution of is found in the conflict between Chisinau and Tiraspol.

Demand for NATO cancellation shared by other political parties

In Chisinau, Moldovan political expert Yevgeny Solar explains the reason for NATO's arrival and the choice of dates:
" - It’s not a secret that during these ‘peacemaking’ events foreign and Moldovan forces are exercising scenarios of joint military actions against Pridnestrovie. Obviously, Chisinau hopes to thereby pressure Tiraspol into agreeing to ‘wide autonomy within Moldova.’ However, such actions are only increasing the resistance of people in Pridnestrovie."

Parties from all sides of the political spectrum in Moldova have spoken out against the provocation and dangerous timing of NATO's arrival in the country.

The Party of Socialists of Moldova and the public political "Patria-Rodina" movement consider that that the Moldovan authorities violate the Moldovan Constitution and ignore the constitutional principal of Moldova's neutrality status by pursuing the partnership expansion policy with NATO.

At a press conference the Party of Socialists expressed condemned the NATO military training, especially on the grounds that it will take place in close proximity to the buffer Security Zone which was established under the terms of the 1992 cease-fire agreement with Transnistria.

" - Such actions do not consolidate, but destroy the statehood of the Republic of Moldova, eroding whatever confidence may still remain between the two sides of the Transnistrian conflict. They lead to new escalation of tension in the region and make the resumption of the talks virtually impossible", says Valentin Crilov, the leader of the Party of Socialists.

The Party of Socialist is in opposition to Moldova's Communist-led government under President and Communist Party leader Vladimir Voronin, a former Soviet-era general and USSR "apparatchik."

Protest demonstrations silenced and outlawed

In Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, a number of political parties and civil society peace groups had planned to take to the streets to get their voices heard, organizing a peaceful demonstration and protest march in rejection of NATO's military presence near the conflict zone. In response, the government of Moldova outlawed any such demonstrations.

A decision by the Chisinau authorities, which was upheld by the nation's courts, forbids the Party of Socialists and the Patria-Rodina Movement from organizing protests against NATO's presence in Moldova.

Valentin Crilov, as one of the organizers of the now-banned demonstration, told a news conference that the Moldovan government violated a number of provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights by not allowing opposition groups to openly and peacefully voice their dissent.

Moldova, the poorest and most backward country in Europe, has a history of cracking down on freedom of speech and using violence against its enemies. In 1992 Moldova attempted to invade Transnistria to enforce its territorial claim. After a brief war causing the loss of approximately 1,000 lives, Moldova retreated and brokered a ceasefire which established a buffer zone along the Dniester river which for centuries has been the traditional international border between the two sides, interrupted only from 1944 to 1990 while the two were joined by Stalin in the MSSR, a Soviet Union republic. (With information from Interfax and Moldova Azi)