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Opposition leader Yevgeny Shevchuk, 38, rejects any talk of change in the current succesful peacekeeping format

RYBNITSA (Tiraspol Times) - In Pridnestrovie, both the government and the opposition alike do not see the need for any change in the current peacekeeping format, said the Speaker of the country's parliament, Yevgeny Shevchuk.

Shevchuk, 38, and head of Renewal, an opposition party in Pridnestrovie, spoke from his hometown in Rybnitsa. He strongly defended the existing peacekeeping format, and pointed out that despite disagreements with the government on many fronts, his party coincides with current president Igor Smirnov on the need to maintain the existing Joint Control Commission in the buffer zone separating Moldova and Pridnestrovie.

News agency ITAR-TASS reported that during a meeting in New York in September, the foreign ministers of GUAM member states (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova) discussed the possibility of replacing CIS peacekeepers with GUAM-led forces.

" - You do not fix what is not broken," said the country's #2 politician.
" - Pridnestrovie will not agree to replace the current multinational peacekeeping team with troops from the GUAM member states. For 14 years joint Russian, Moldavian and Pridnestrovian peacekeeping forces have been securing peace in the region. No burst of violence took place and not a single person was ever killed in the course of these years. It is our view that a change of this format will only destabilize the situation, and can bring new war” said the top opposition politician.

His party, Renewal, is highly critical of the current Smirnov-led government. It gained a majority in the legislature in December 2005 in a surprise win, following a smaller election success in the May 2005 municipal elections. It obtained 23 seats in the last parliamentary ballot, and counting a number of independent allies, its majority in parliament now numbers 29 out of a total of 43. Both the government and the leading opposition party want peace in the region, however, and all members of parliament, regardless of political conviction, agree that any change in the existing peacekeeping format is both reckless and risky.

" - Deployment of GUAM’s soldiers is a move aimed at exerting pressure on Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Pridnestrovive and it will not happen," affirmed Shevchuk.

Abkhaz MP rejects aggressor state participation

The comments by Renewal's Shevchuk follow a similar reaction from Abkhazia, where Abkhaz MP Garry Samanba was quoted by a Regnum News correspondent as stating to the press on November 2 in Sokhumi that his people will never agree with CIS collective peacekeeping forces’ (CPF) withdrawal. If it happens, it is ready to deploy opposing forces from Abkhazia, Transdniester, and South Ossetia, in a response to a move that analysts see as leading to new risk of war in the Caucasus. Samamba was commenting on Ukrainian defense minister Anatoly Gritsenko’s statement that GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldavia) forces will be able to substitute the existing peacekeeping forces in Abkhazia, Ossetia, and Pridnestrovie acting under the auspices of the UN and OSCE, and that “the peacekeeping forces in CIS will receive rivals.”

Looking at the composition of GUAM, with Georgia as a leading member, the Abkhaz MP wants to know: “How can aggressor state become peacekeeper in its own conflict zone?”

He also expressed anxiety over the fact that Ukraine officially gives away military equipment to Georgia and participates in the training of Georgian armed forces. He believes that GUAM intentions are directed against Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Pridnestrovie, and Russia in zones where the peace has held for upwards of fifteen years, but where recent troop movements now endanger the lives of the civilian population and the young and unrecognized states alike.

World's largest country calls for moderation

Russia, as one of the countries who supplies troops to the current successful peacekeeping operation, also weighed in with an opinion. The largest country in the world, measured in landmass, rejected the GUAM proposal and called for moderation.

Commenting on the scenario envisioned by Moldova and Georgia, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov noted that "the peacemaking structure GUAM, naturally, is not just for deployment only in Abkhaziya and South Ossetia, but also in Nagorno Karabakh and Pridnestrovie".

According to him, such troop deployment by partisan and biased sides can easily be misconstrued. "It is natural that Russia, which speaks in favor of solving these conflicts strictly by diplomatic and political means, will then have to take the necessary steps in order to prevent the escalation of a scenario which is contrary to the current format of non-violent status negotions", emphasized Ivanov.

Pridnestrovie, also known as Transnistria or Transdniester, was at the receiving end of an attack by Moldova in 1992. Moldova, which lays claim to the territory, has attempted to enforce sovereignty over the area for 16 years but has failed, and Pridnestrovie is today a de facto independent country with all the attributes of independent statehood. Due to the territorial claim by Moldova, its sovereignty is not yet recognized by the rest of Europe.

See also:
» "Peacekeepers must leave", says Moldova's foreign minister [1]
» Moldova wants int'l peacekeepers to leave [2]