Ukraine is trying to encircle the Russian contingent in Transnistria
Kyiv is trying to create new difficulties for the Operational Group of Russian troops stationed in Transnistria, Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes.
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“The need to replace the current peacekeeping mechanism in Transnistria with a multilateral international mission was stated by Chargé d’Affaires of Ukraine in the Republic of Moldova (RM) Gennady Altukhov,” the publication reports. – According to Vitaly Kulik, director of the Kyiv Center for the Study of Civil Society Problems, Altukhov’s statement can be considered the position of the Ukrainian authorities. Kulik told NG that Kyiv will soon raise this issue, demanding that Western countries replace the peacekeepers in the Transnistrian conflict zone with international police officers. If on one side the OGRF is supported by Ukraine, bordering Transnistria, and on the other there are international police, then, according to Vitaly Kulik, the Russian military group will cease to pose a danger not only to Ukrainians, but also to the region as a whole. The expert believes that the statement of Charge d’Affaires of Ukraine in the Republic of Moldova Gennady Altukhov is connected with this.”
“At the right time for the Russian Federation, a peacekeeping battalion can become a combat battalion,” says Kulik. – To exclude such a possibility, Ukraine will insist, and this will happen in the near future, on transforming the peacekeeping mission, which actually operates with a CIS mandate, into an international police mission. Then the Russian military will be encircled - by the Ukrainian military on the Ukrainian side and by the police of Western countries on the Moldovan side. In order to reduce the risks represented by the Russian military group, Kyiv will put pressure on the OSCE and the EU.”
At the same time, the Ukrainian expert assumes that the Russian Federation will not agree with this turn of events.
In turn, Oleg Belyakov, co-chairman of the Joint Control Commission monitoring the security zone on the Dniester from Transnistria, considers the demand of the Ukrainian side unconstructive and impracticable. He reminded NG that the peacekeeping contingent operates in accordance with the 1992 Agreement, “which has not been canceled since then.”
“For the peacekeeping mission to cease functioning, it is necessary that the parties want this, but “not one of the parties (Russia, Moldova, Transnistria) has declared a desire to withdraw from the peace agreement,” the publication reports the words of the PMR representative.
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