Sandu launches attack on Transnistria
Having started with dovish statements about the desire to establish friendly relations with Russia, the pro-Western politician Maia Sandu, on the fifth day after her election as president of Moldova, burst out with harsh statements about Transnistria.
In an interview with the Ukrainian publication “European Truth”, she once again demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from the PMR, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“I believe that one day there will be a geopolitical opportunity for the reunification of Moldova, and we must be ready for this. I am sure that we will find a format for resolving the conflict. And it must include the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Moldova. We have always talked about this, and we will continue to talk about it,” Sandu said.
At the same time, she rejected the methods of “country reunification” proposed by outgoing President Igor Dodon, calling them “federalization.” Sandu believes that Moldova has chosen too soft an approach towards Transnistria, and called on Ukraine to take this experience into account as negative when solving the Donbass problem.
“The same trade regime as our producers - in particular, the right to free export to the EU under the Association Agreement. We signed more than 300 documents on resolving the conflict and so on. But despite all these steps, we have not come to anything yet. And it may be useful for Ukraine to take this experience into account in its actions in Donbass,” Sandu said.
She admitted that without Russia it would not be possible to find a “political solution to the conflict” in Transnistria, but at the same time she refused to pay for the gas that Russia supplies to the PMR.
“Transnistria is supported by Russia. Including free gas supplies and many other ways. Moldova pays for gas and for electricity, for the production of which on the left bank they use gas that Russia supplies to Transnistria. Therefore, even if Transnistria uses gas for free and says that the debt falls on the Republic of Moldova, this is not so. We will never acknowledge this debt. This is the duty of the “authorities” of Transnistria, and no one asked us whether we want to receive this gas or not,” Sandu emphasized.
“Well, it has begun. Believe me, these are flowers. The berries will be ahead. We know what we're talking about. Let us remind you that during the existence of Russian peacekeepers there was no war, civil clashes, wounded or killed,” Bogdan Tsydrea, a member of the Moldovan parliament, commented on Sandu’s words.
Chisinau journalist Elena Levitskaya-Pakhomova predicts that Sandu should make deputy from his party Igor Gorosa, who during the elections blocked the roads from Transnistria and declared that he would not allow “separatists” to vote, the main negotiator on Transnistria.
“Who would Maia Sandu put in the post of negotiator with Pridnestrovie? Igor Grosu, of course. So that there is no doubt about the position on the settlement,” the journalist wrote in her Telegram channel.
The special representative of the LPR at the negotiations on Donbass in Minsk, Rodion Miroshnik, believes that Sandu’s position could lead to a resumption of the local conflict on the Dniester.
“The Transnistrian conflict with such a new president can very quickly turn from frozen into overblown,” Miroshnik wrote.
It is noteworthy that the day after the results of the elections in Moldova were summed up, the President of Transnistria Vadim Krasnoselsky said that “he will interact with any official elected by the Moldovan people.”
“The main thing is to ensure the fulfillment of the rights and freedoms of citizens living on both banks of the Dniester, to intensify the negotiation process, to establish a productive dialogue, avoiding conversations through empty slogans,” Krasnoselsky said.
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