COMMENTARY on recent agreed upon statements of Tiraspol, Russia's Embassy in Moldova on situation on left bank of Dniester

Chisinau, 6 January /MOLDPRES/ - The Reintegration Policies Bureau finds out, with anxiety, the boosting of Moscow’s and Tiraspol’s anti-Moldova rhetoric and actions on the last days. We have every reason to believe that they have in view a scenario of destabilizing the situation in the country, of defaming the constitutional authorities and of disseminating the fear and uncertainty among the citizens, the government’s communication department has reported.   

We specify that, contrary to statements by Vadim Krasnoselsky, Chisinau came up with proposals, including calls in written form, to Tiraspol, which clearly stipulate the willingness of Moldova’s government to help the citizens from the eastern districts and to establish a mechanism of dialogue with the Tiraspol representatives to this end. The answer was of full rejection of these offers.     

The statements made by Russia’s Embassy in Chisinau today, according to which the Moldovan government would be responsible for the situation in the eastern region of the country, are even more surprising. Contrary to the statements made by the Russian diplomatic representation, Chisinau did not cease the delivery of gas to the Transnistrian region and neither cancelled the contract with Gazprom, which is valid till September 2026. The ceasing of the contract on transit through Ukraine is also an absolutely false pretext, as there is possibility to deliver natural gas through the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline. We remind that the right bank does not consume gas imported from Russia and the evoking of the alleged debt of Chisinau for the Russian giant is null. In other aspects, neither Gazprom nor Russia’s Embassy make any reference to the debt of about 11 billion U.S. dollars, fraudulently accumulated by on the left bank of Dniester during years; yet, they speculate an alleged 15-fold smaller debt of the Moldovagaz Company, in order to deprive the consumers from the country’s eastern districts from gas and electric energy in the depth of winter.      

The responsibility for the situation emerged in the country’s eastern districts is fully due to ever more dangerous and unfair geopolitical games of Moscow, which, through these actions, doubt Russia’s role of mediator and guarantor in the process of negotiations on the Transnistrian settlement. The actions undertaken by Moscow and its Tiraspol acolytes in the last weeks undermine the confidence in all current mechanisms of negotiation on the settlement of this file and compromise Chisinau’s efforts from the last three years to maintain the peace and stability in the country and the region.