PMR Pres: "Plans to get rid of existing peacekeepers is provocation"

OSCE already participates with full observer status in the multilateral peacekeeping force in PMR (file photo: OSCE)

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - Instability in a stable situation is the only result that Pridnestrovie's President, Igor Smirnov, sees from Moldova's plans to change the current peacekeeping format. Moldova has talked of NATO troops and of bringing in soldiers from GUAM countries, named for Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova itself. Such plans are a provocation, responds Smirnov, pointing out that the current five-sided peacekeeping format is working extremely well, has successfully kept the situation stable, and should not be fiddled with.

President Igor Smirnov made his comments at a news conference in Pridnestrovie's capital Tiraspol on Thursday.

" - The GUAM member-states' plans to deploy their so-called peacekeeping contingents in the conflict zones are a deliberate provocative act," he said.

Smirnov said that his recent meetings with the leaders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Eduard Kokoity and Sergei Bagapsh confirmed that their positions on the issue coincide. Like these two countries, Pridnestrovie itself is de facto independent but not recognized internationally. Also known under the unofficial names of Transnistria or Transdniester, it meets the requirements for statehood under international law.

For its part, NATO has ruled out any involvement in the conflict. In an official transcript issued by the U.S. State Department, Daniel Fried, Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, spoke to the Defense Writers Group in Washington, DC on Tuesday, 21 November. He was asked about the "frozen conflicts" and specifically mentioned "Transdniestria, a long sliver of land," saying that: "It probably won’t come up directly at NATO. NATO doesn’t have an immediate role" and that "NATO obviously discusses these issues from time to time, but NATO doesn’t have a direct role."

Despite Moldova's desire to involve NATO in the conflict, speaking for the U.S. State Department, Daniel Fried makes it clear that this is very unlikely to ever happen:
" - There are very serious issues of confidence-building and keeping the peace there, but probably not NATO for a long time, if ever," said the Assistant Secretary in Washington D.C. on Tuesday.

Moldova seeks membership of NATO

Despite the cold shoulder from NATO, Moldova is more eager than ever to join this Western alliance. In an interview with leading newspaper Flux this week, the leader of the Christian-Democratic Party, Yuri Roshka, said: "The Republic of Moldova should do the utmost in order to join NATO following Georgia". The Christian-Democratic Party is the closest ally of Moldova's President Vladimir Voronin.

Earlier this year, Moldova signed the Individual Partnership Plan with NATO in 2006 which envisages transfer of its national army to NATO standards.

Last week, on 19 November, Moldovan Parliament’s Speaker Marian Lupu participated in a meeting called “Moldova and Euro-Atlantic Institutions: Unification of Efforts”. At the meeting, he publicly declared that Moldova was firmly going to become “a constituent part of NATO space.”

Two months ago, in September 2006, large scale NATO maneuvers were conducted in Moldova. Moldova has already started preparation for conducting the next NATO maneuvers in its territory, to be carried out in 2007. Analysts in Chisinau see the possibility of NATO-membership as very likely, but also rule out any NATO troops as part of a force overseeing the peacekeeping efforts in Pridnestrovie.

" - There is no need for NATO here, and NATO knows it. The existing peacekeeping effort is working," says one Chisinau-based expert, adding that "OSCE is already involved, and OSCE in Moldova is a proxy for the United States. Ever since the mission was founded, more than ten years ago, every single Ambassador has come from the U.S. State Department."

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, is already part of the multilateral peacekeeping force with full observer status. Ukraine also has observer status, while three countries - Moldova, Russia, and unrecognized Pridnestrovie - all supply equal numbers of troops to keep the peace. So far, the mission has been a success: Thanks to the active involvement of the international observers, and the balance of the sides, fighting has not been renewed and not a single life has been lost. The ceasefire has been kept, just as envisioned when the current peacekeeping mandate was established.

See also:
» Moldova wants int'l peacekeepers to leave