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Opposition leader Yevgeny Shevchuk, 38, from the "Renewal" party (RIAN.ru)

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - Leading the opposition in Pridnestrovie is Yevgeny Shevchuk, 38 years old, a Tiraspol-educated lawyer and former manager of bank branch office.

Today, Shevchuk leads the largest block of MPs in Pridnestrovie's parliament and is head of the political party Renewal ("Obnovlenie"). He was born in 1968 in the local town of Rybnitsa, the son of working class parents. After a surprising election win 11 December 2006, his party swept to power and he is now the chairman and speaker of Parliament, a position which he uses to challenge the president and launch a fresh wave of democracy in Pridnestrovie.

You are chairman of the 4th elected parliament in Pridnestrovie's independent history. What do you see as your basic task?

" - In my view, the basic task of the legislature is to create the conditions that will improve the quality and standard of living of the inhabitants of Pridnestrovie. One of the main directions is the increased social protection of those who need it, first of all pensioners, invalids, large families and so on. The legislature will continue to work on modernizing the legislation of Pridnestrovie so that it matches the progressive tendencies existing in the majority of countries today. We will work for more and more democratization of public processes and state administration institutions. In this connection the members of parliament will in particular work on a law for local self-administration and decentralization where, over the long term, there will be government institutions in place for the citizens of a locality to exercise direct self government over their local organs of state authority. We will work so that in the legislative sphere the citizens of Pridnestrovie are guaranteed the same rights as those of citizens of other countries in today's world."

In 2005, you launched the failed "Initiative 17-TI" on constitutional reform. Was the challenge to President Smirnov premature?

" - In the 3rd elected parliament, we did a lot of things. We began judicial reform, and passed legislation dealing with human rights and rights to privacy. We introduced the requirement of a court order for wiretapping, legal searches, etc. We also made substantial changes to the penal code of Pridnestrovie, aimed at cracking down on cross-border criminality and with a special set of sanctions for people- and organ-trafficking. However, as far as "Initiative 17-TI" is concerned, in my view it not was a revolutionary idea but merely aimed at balancing state authority (by giving parliamentary oversight and veto on presidential actions, ed.). But some members of parliament could think of nothing better than alarm the population by claiming that we, the opposition MPs, wanted to create an overthrow or a revolution in Pridnestrovie. These members of parliament, simply put, merely attempted to protect themselves and did so by driving the media into a frenzy."

They talked about a war between the president and the parliament. Was there such a war?

" - I don't think that there was conflict between different branches of authority, no. Some changes were proposed to the constitution, on matching the positions and a balance of power between the legislative and executive branches. However, with regards to officials who now and then dip into the state budget or misuse their official position, I can say that I do not advise them to cover up for themselves by manufacturing a conflict situation between the President and Parliament. On this matter, we are in agreement with the President."

What will you do to develop parliamentary relations?

" - Together with the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee we have already created the post of special representative of interparliamentary connections, currently held by former speaker Grigori Maracutsa who possesses enormous experience and extensive connections abroad. This shows that we plan to develop our ties to the international community. First of all, with the parliaments of guarantor-countries Russia and Ukraine, but also with CIS-countries in general and with the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. We want to develop new ties and deepen our existing ties to the rest of the world. First of all, as a way to let the international community know what is really going on in the region. And secondly, to let them know what our point of view is. What we are doing stems from a profound view of how we see ourselves and how we see our own future, and it is valuable that this view is taken into account abroad. Even if not everyone agree with us, they need to at least know and attempt to understand what we see as being the legitimate issues before us."

What role can you play in the settlement talks with Moldova?

" - Parliament is already involved. I recall that we have previously worked with Moldova for a time on a joint Constitutional Committee. But when we were ready to discuss the alternatives, Moldova withdrew from the process and rejected any talk of federalization ideas outright. Chisinau has since attempted to force developments here, through heavy-handed action rather than dialogue. In our case, we start from the idea that Moldova will geographically remain with us all the time, and we shall be together, either way. The level of mistrust is very high and speaking about why it should be better within a common state - this must be demonstrated. At the same time, all they are doing is trying to demonstrate the following: “We are taking away from you the possibility to work and, in order to work as you did before, you have to come to us, and we shall allow you something, in a certain form.” Relying on forceful pressure simply lacks perspective. Because there are radical forces in Chisinau and, don’t forget, they exist here, too. People who are now struggling for their rights and opinions and so on. When they will be pressed as tight as a spring and everyone realizes they are still powerful, then no one can guarantee that this spring will fight back somehow. I underline that these are not threats. Saying “we’ll simply strangle them and everything will be alright, everyone will walk under the Romanian flag, everyone will respond the Moldovan way of greeting...." I think this will not happen."

Transit of the goods through the Ukrainian border will now only be possible with Moldovan customs documents. What are your comments on that?

" - The change in the export and import regulations affects the interests of Pridnestrovie negatively, so for me, as a lawmaker elected by the people of Pridnestrovie, this is clearly unacceptable. I see this as another heavyhanded attempt to put pressure on Pridnestrovie through economic means, using non-political methods to achieve a political goal. To me it is not understandable why precisely now it was necessary to change the way that cargo was processed by customs. And this happened even though we, Pridnestrovie, had already concurred with and supported the international monitoring by European Union representatives of the border with Ukraine. In my view, civilized countries do not act like that. I consider these steps by the Republic of Moldova to be uncalled for since they are out of sync with the need for dialogue and for a mutually beneficial settlement of the political issues which divide us. By using force and economic pressure to subdue Pridnestrovie it will not be possible to create the favorable circumstances which are required for any fruiful negotiations to take place."

And Pridnestrovie's response?

" - Pridnestrovie has the right to take reciprocal measures to protect the survival of its domestic companies. You can not sit by, idly, when someone takes money out of your pocket or threatens your livelihood, and then claims that this is normal, that is in line with international norms and standards. We will protect our economy and our citizens from those negative consequences which arise from the unilateral actions imposed by Moldovan authorities. When they decide to hurt us or hurt our legitimate exporting economy to Europe and to the United States, then naturally we can not be expected to carry on discussions and settlement negotiations as if nothing had happened. It is not possible to trust a negotiation partner who acts in bad faith and who feels that the best way to deal with us, internationally, is to apply rough and heavyhanded pressure tactics."

The main argument of Chisinau is that Tiraspol lives from smuggling. Does it?

" - You will find more smuggling cases on the Moldovan-Ukrainian border or at the Moldovan-Romanian border, in comparison with the situation at the Pridnestrovie-Ukrainian border. But they keep saying that we smuggle, yet they forget the following: there is a Ukrainian border, and there is a Moldovan border - two borders. The standard objection to this used to be something along the lines of "the Moldovan side is very well trained, with high-class specialists, and we trust them. But we don’t trust the Ukrainian side." So it was clear, let’s invite international observers, and here they are today - already on the spot. They have concluded that in principle some irregularities exist, but as a matter of fact I have not seen any proof. They could at least show us an automatic rifle, a rocket installation - they say we have such installations, various systems, katyushas. Well, they exist, but there is another issue to pay attention to: producing these at state level, selling, and manufacturing are different things. They found nothing. And we can’t do a thing about this! Can you imagine? We have invited the international community and they work for a year and reports that Pridnestrovie has nothing. This worries us first of all in connection with the fact that we are being described as thieves, that we are manufacturing ammunition and weapons for some purposes, that we are making money from this. This makes us feel uncomfortable, not quite in a good mood relating to a partner (Moldova, ed.) who speaks so. Perhaps it has been misled by its own secret service, I don’t know the causes of this allegation..."

Moldova's President Vladimir Voronin says that he will not negotiate with his counterpart, President Igor Smirnov, but that he is willing to talk to you instead. Are you willing to talk to him?

" - If we find a mutually acceptable framework for conducting the settlement talks, where the positions of both sides are taken into account and one side does not ignore the views of the other side, then the Parliament of Pridnestrovie is willing to participate in any and all negotiations with its Moldovan counterparts since the stated purpose of the settlement talks is to stabilize the situation in the region. Unfortunately, we are now at a point of Moldova-Pridnestrovie relations where they can take any direction, including the interruption of all relations for a certain period of time, because anyway you can’t walk into Europe or neglect a human mind, and you can’t build a 3-meter-high fence along the Dniester River and stop here. In other words, again, this is a period which I would like to see in the past as soon as possible, because we need - and so does Moldova - to deal with economic development."

How do you see the role of Russia in the Moldovan settlement talks?

" - For Pridnestrovie, Russia has been and continues to be a major economic partner. Russia, as a guarantor-country to the ceasefire, is also an important political player in the region. For the settlement talks to ever succeed it will be impossible not to consider Russia opinion. Unlike Moldova, the territory which forms Pridnestrovie has deep historical connections to Russia, and we appreciate Russia's participation in the international team of peacekeepers who carry out their service in the buffer zone. Without their balancing presence, the conflict between Moldova and Pridnestrovie will be onesided; re-igniting and turning bloody again, and the region would quickly become a very dangerous place. It is the job of sane, clear-headed people everywhere to prevent that from happening."