The Dniester river near Tiraspol, Transnistria

Tensions rise along the River Dniester

Moldova is preparing to install check points at the border with its breakaway republic of Transnistria, while Russia and the Ukraine hope to speed up negotiations on settling this 20-year-old conflict. The European Union may find itself dragged into a diplomatic standoff.

Published on 16 April 2013 at 11:49
Eugene Romanenko  | The Dniester river near Tiraspol, Transnistria

By installing new border check points, as of May 1, along the border with Transnistria, Chisinau is once again trying to appeal to the EU. Yet, this measure does not contribute to appeasing tensions along the banks of the Dniester River.

Another round of talks concerning Transnistria (in the 5+2 format: Russia, Ukraine, Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), United States, EU, Moldova and Transnistria) is scheduled in May in Odessa. The Ukraine, which currently holds the rotating OSCE presidency, has high hopes for the talks. Ukraine's foreign minister Leonid Kojara, the current president of the OSCE, has already said that Kiev intends not only to speed up the talks, but also aims to conclude them by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the conflict is getting worse. Moldova is consolidating its border along the Dniester River, a border which, according to Chisinau, must ensure the security of the eastern frontiers of the EU. Populations on the right and left banks have jumped to a conclusion: Moldova is ceding Transnistria to Russia or to the Ukraine (depending on the substance of the agreement) and is turning towards the EU and Romania.

Classified as foreigners

As of May 1, six new customs and immigration check points will be installed along the border between Moldova and Transnistria. The passports of citizens from the breakaway province who do not have Moldovan citizenship will be scanned and recorded. Transnistria's Foreign Affairs Minister Nina Shanski says that this was already being done and was part of "additional restrictions on the freedom of movement of citizens." She said that more than 180,000 Russian citizens and nearly 100,000 Ukrainian citizens lived in Transnistria and that "from Moldova's point of view they could all be classified as foreigners."

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[[In the Transnistrian capital Tiraspol, Chisinau's decision is seen as a provocation]] because "it comes at a time of year when the flow of people crossing from one bank to the other increases due to spring holidays and national bank holidays" [on May 1 and 9].

This decision can be explained by Moldova's wish to shed some of the restrictions the EU is placing on visas from that country. To do this, it is indispensable to ensure the security not only of Moldova's western borders but of the eastern limits as well, as Dirk Choubel, the EU's representative in Chisinau has made clear. Tiraspol, however, warns against the risk that "the measures unilaterally decided by Chisinau might lead to a new spiral of tension along the Dniester".

The end of the European project?

Transnistria is ready to take the appropriate measures. That would spell the end of the European project to reconcile the parties to the conflict. It seems the common ground has eroded. Even worse, in Chisinau as in Tiraspol, there is talk lately of the possibility of a new conflict breaking out within the Dniester valley security zone. Russian peace-keeping forces are stationed in this zone. They will become the hostages of a situation that political leaders cannot or will not normalise.

The peace-keeping forces in Transnistria are regulated by the 1992 Moldovan-Russian Accords, which are now largely outdated, according to the soldiers themselves. But the issue of updating them has been raised neither by Chisinau nor Moscow. Given the current context, Moscow, Kiev and Brussels must do better than propose a semblance of speeding up the talks because this will not be sufficient to contain the protagonists.

Counterpoint

Just applying EU standards

In Chisinau, the Moldovan government (an interim government since the fall of prime minister Vlad Filat on March 5) rejects speculation that it plans to give up Transnistria. Moldova's borders are recognised by the international community, the government says.

"Nothing unusual is happening," vice-prime minister Eugen Carpov told Romanian public radio, Radio România Actualităţi. “This is part of the the Republic of Moldova's discussions with the European Union to lift restrictions on visas. To reach this goal, we must conform to the standards, one of which is to control migration flows of foreign citizens visiting Moldova".

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