The Government in Chișinău wants to fuel the Transnistrian conflict in order to make the country more appealing to the West and thus obtain a larger financial support, according to a recent false narrative. In fact, the conflict in Transnistria is one of the major obstacles in the way of Moldova’s future European integration.
NEWS: “The president of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, recently told Pro TV that she wants to speed up procedures to evacuate the Russian peacekeeping forces from Transnistria and solve the issue of the ammunition depot in Kolbsana.
(…) Unfortunately, a network of relations has been built all around Transnistria today, so that the power in Chișinău should profit from the instability in this region. For instance, by speculating on their history with Russian peacekeepers, NATO and the EU are bringing weapons to this region, signing agreements with Chișinău in order to support military reform. As a result of the current situation, Moldova would become less attractive in the eyes of the West in the absence of a conflict with Tiraspol, which will inevitably lead to the EU and the USA cutting their financial support to the current government, which is understandably not in the best interest of the current regime”.
NARRATIVES: 1. The Government in Chișinău is fueling tensions with Transnistria when demanding that the Russian troops withdraw from Transnistria, risking a new military escalation. 2. Maintaining the conflict in Transnistria favors Chișinău, since it allows it to secure more support from the EU and NATO.
BACKGROUND: In 1990, with the collapse of the USSR, the region of Transnistria, which was part of the Moldovan SSR, proclaimed its independence, justifying its decision by pointing to the “Romanianization” of Moldova and the prospective “threat of uniting with Romania”.
On March 2, 1992, an armed conflict broke out, which was settled under the Convention on Principles of Peaceful Settlement of the Armed Conflict in the Transnistrian Region of Republic of Moldova, at the time signed by the presidents of the Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation, Mircea Snegur and Boris Yeltsin, respectively. The Convention stipulated measures to enforce security along the Dniester, including by setting up a peacekeeping mission, the demilitarization of the conflict area and the establishment of a Unified Committee of Control.
At the same time, there’s a second Russian military force in the region, which is officially charged with guarding the ammunition that belonged to the 14th Soviet Army, which supported Tiraspol in the 1992 conflict. Russia failed to fulfill its international commitments of withdrawing its troops and munitions. At present, Moscow and Tiraspol are describing Chișinău’s efforts with respect to the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of the Republic of Moldova as an attempt to destroy the peacekeeping mission in this region, although the two issues are unrelated.
PURPOSE: To describe the government in Chișinău as belligerent, interested in the continuation and even the escalation of the Transnistrian conflict. To inadvertently depict the West (EU, USA, NATO) as interested in maintaining the status quo in order to turn up the pressure on Russia.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: It has become a tradition for Moscow and Tiraspol to interpret every effort made by the authorities in Chișinău with respect to withdrawing the troops and ammunition from Transnistria as an attempt to destroy the peacekeeping mission, whose role is glorified and overestimated.
In fact, Chișinău merely asks that Russia fulfills the commitments made at the OSCE Summit of 1999. The presence of Russian troops in Transnistria is an important security guarantee for the breakaway regime in Tiraspol, which sees the recognition of the self-proclaimed republic’s independence as the only way to settle this conflict.
Even in her interview for Pro TV that the article references, president Maia Sandu talks about the withdrawal of Russian military forces, not the peacekeeping force. “The presence of Russian troops on the territory of the Republic of Moldova goes against the Constitution and the Republic of Moldova’s neutrality status. This topic, the withdrawal of Russian troops, is a constant point on the bilateral agenda with the Russian Federation, a topic that we also approach at the level of all international organizations in order to obtain the support of the international community for the withdrawal of foreign troops from our territory.”
The narrative about using the conflict in Transnistria in order to secure support from the EU and NATO is not new, but it fails all critical scrutiny. First of all, an unresolved territorial dispute and the presence of a foreign military force on this territory represent a serious impediment to the European integration of the Republic of Moldova.
This is referred to by Maia Sandu herself in the said interview: “The forces that wanted us to become independent from the Soviet Union have tried to stop this process, and, unfortunately, the existence of this conflict in Transnistria poses a serious drawback to the development of the Republic of Moldova, as well as to our European track. Of course, it’s important that we come up with a solution, however one that should be peaceful, diplomatic, a solution that should observe the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Moldova, while reintegration should result into a functioning state. These three elements are extremely important”.
Maintaining the status quo, namely the presence of Russian troops approximately 100 kilometers from their borders, suits neither the EU nor NATO.
Besides, the pro-Russian governments themselves (the most recent of which was Socialist) have failed to identify any solution to settle the conflict. Therefore, it’s false to claim the pro-European government is the one fueling this conflict.
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