Smirnov rules out meeting Voronin on Moldovan soil

President Igor Smirnov was a political prisoner in Moldova in 1991 and won't return to Moldovan soil for fear of hostage taking

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - Igor Smirnov, the President of the 'de facto' independent republic of Pridnestrovie, will not set foot in Moldova. He said so to Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta in an interview about the upcoming meeting with his Moldovan counterpart, Vladimir Voronin.

When the meeting takes place, it will be on neutral ground. Smirnov is unwilling to enter Moldova for fear of being held hostage by authorities there. Kidnappings and extraordinary renditions have been frequent in Moldova under the current regime. He cited the case of former Moldovan government minister Valeriu Pasat who was jailed on trumped-up charges after he returned from exile. It took two and a half years of prison time before the sentence was overturned after heavy lobbying by the OSCE, the United States and a number of other Western critics.

In another recent case, human rights activist Ivan Burgudji from Moldova's Gagauz minority was arrested on a false charge when he returned from exile in PMR to visit Moldova and cast his vote in a local election in his native Gagauzia. When in custody, he was a victim of torture which was so bad that he had to be carried into court lying down on a hospital stretcher. The former political prisoner was only released after OSCE intervention.

Smirnov himself has been a political prisoner in the basement cells under Moldova's secret police headquarters in Chisinau. On 29 August 1991, the popular pro-independence leader was kidnapped by Moldovan forces and taken to solitary confinement in Chisinau. During his time as a political prisoner, Igor Smirnov started writing a book entitled "To Live in Our Land". Meanwhile, grassroot groups brought people together to organize a nonviolent protest against the imprisonment of Igor Smirnov by the authorities in Chisinau. Young Galina Andreeva and a group of women blocked the country's main railroad, and stopped the trains on the routes Chisinau-Tiraspol-Odessa and Chisinau-Tiraspol-Moscow. At the beginning there were 10, after that 20, 100, then a thousand. Day and night, they sat down on the railroad tracks and protested. This peaceful protest led to the freedom of Moldova's first political prisoner, Igor Smirnov, and his triumphant return to Pridnestrovie.

Today, Pridnestrovie's President is willing to meet with his Moldovan counterpart but not on Moldovan soil. He will meet in Pridnestrovie, in Ukraine, in Russia, or anywhere else where there is no fear of being arrested. But he clearly does not trust the word of Moldova if he crosses the Dniester and agrees to meet in Moldova.

You spoke to Voronin on Monday?

" - Yes. My conversation with Voronin took place on 7 April, almost the date of the anniversary of the protocol which both of us signed, and where we established the framework for good relations between Pridnestrovie and Moldova. That took place on 9 April 2001. The agreement that we signed in 2001 centered on basic steps to take for the two sides to move closer to each other. It was agreed that Russian would be a second official language in Moldova, that Moldova would become part of a union with Belarus and Russia, and so forth. I signed it and so did Voronin. But afterwards, Voronin turned his back on this deal."

So did the two of you agree to anything when you spoke on Monday?

" - Yes, we simply spoke on the phone, and we agreed that it would be necessary for the two of us to meet. Mr. Voronin proposed that we should meet in Golerkanakh, on the Moldovan side of the Dniester. But I told him that Valeriu Pasat came to Moldova, and as a result he had to spend two and a half years in a Moldovan prison, and that I won't be meeting on Moldovan soil."

" - Now, the place where we will meet is not an issue. If we find consensus on the text of an agreement and if our legislative organs are willing to ratify it, then it is no problem to determine where we will meet. But in this case, it is necessary for Moldova to follow through on documents that we have discussed in the past. I already told Voronin this after emphasizing that I am not going to deceive anyone, neither Moldova nor Russia."

Do you refer to the friendship and cooperation treaty?

" - Correct: The discussion will be about how Moldova and Pridnestrovie can cooperate with each other."

In other words, about cooperation between two different states?

" - Yes, precisely."

Who will write the draft of this agreement - Chisinau, Tiraspol, or both of you together?

" - I can ask why it is necessary to come up with such an agreement all over again? We already have an earlier text, and we just need to return to that. It is possible to introduce changes to it, if that will make it easier to reach an agreement. But the basic draft already exists."

Who prepared this agreement, Pridnestrovie or Moldova?

" - We did."

So this partially forgotten agreement should now be discussed, renewed and will it then be possible to conduct negotiations between two sides who are both independent?

" - That is correct. Because, as you know, we can't just forget about the fact that there are clear results from the referendum which took place in Pridnestrovie in September 2006. The people of Pridnestrovie (97% of those who voted) made it clear that they want an independent state and in the future want closer ties to Russia, not to Moldova. Russia's Parliament recognized that our referendum was carried out in adherence to all international standards."

A newspaper in Moscow predicted that your meeting with Voronin will bring a solution to the conflict in the near future.

" - Yes, Kommersant wrote that the conflict can be resolved very quickly. And I agree with this. All it takes is for Moldova to recognize our right to an independent state."

See also:
» Transdniestria wants friendship and cooperation treaty with Moldova
» Moldova political prisoners kept in jail with no trial
» Smirnov: "Let's work together with Moldova to solve common problems"

On the web:
» Draft of friendship and co-operation treaty, PMR/Moldova