The Republic of Moldova’s most important negotiator in settling the thirty-year dispute with the pro-Russian Transnistrian separatist enclave on Sunday ruled out any role for Moscow in finding a solution while it is involved in the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported.

Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Serebryan stated this on the air of the national radio station, while the pro-European government of the Republic of Moldova continues its efforts to ensure its entry into the European Union, Agerpres notes.

The country’s prime minister said on Saturday that the newly appointed minister of European affairs will lead Moldova’s team in accession negotiations, which were given the green light by European Union leaders last month.

Serebryan noted that the 5+2 negotiation process on the settlement of the Transnistrian dispute, which has been going on for 20 years and includes Russia and Ukraine, as well as the United States and the European Union as observers, cannot be useful, because for now Russia will continue its invasion.

“The return to this format of peaceful settlement depends on the improvement of relations between Moscow and Kyiv,” he said. “It is not officially canceled, but frozen.”

Little progress

For now, little progress can be expected on the “third basket” of negotiations, which concerns the future status of the separatist enclave.

Deputy Prime Minister Oleh Serebryan also stated that the priority of the Republic of Moldova for 2024 is gradual integration into the EU.

President Maia Sandu, who condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, demanded a greater role for the EU in resolving the conflict with Transnistria.

Prime Minister Dorin Rechan announced on Saturday in a video presentation that State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kristina Gerasimova will take over the position of Minister of European Integration and chief negotiator in the EU accession negotiations.

Gerasimov will also head the new European Integration Office, which will continue these discussions.

Her appointment and the appointment of the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mykhailo Popsogi, followed the resignation last week of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Niko Popescu.

The Transnistrian negotiators fear that they will be arrested

Transnistria broke away from the Republic of Moldova before the fall of the Soviet regime in 1991 and fought a brief war against the newly independent state, but remained a subject within the Republic of Moldova for over 30 years, during which there was limited unrest. Tiraspol has no international recognition and is highly dependent on Moscow, News.ro notes.

The two sides hold regular one-on-one talks, but the latest round this month was influenced by new customs duties imposed by the Republic of Moldova as part of the EU accession process, but which separatists have condemned as harmful to Transnistrian business.

Transnistrian negotiators have said they will no longer participate in talks in the territories controlled by the Moldovan government because they fear arrest under new tougher anti-separatism laws.

As NewsMaker reports, on February 2, 2023, the members of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova voted for changes to the Criminal Code, which also include the article “Separatism”. According to the new provisions, “separatist actions committed with the aim of separating a part of the territory of the Republic of Moldova” will be punished with imprisonment from two to five years.

The Tiraspol institution of “external relations” qualified the adoption of the legislative project as an “act of aggression”. The Transnistrian “IAE” stated that the responsibility for the escalation of tension between Tiraspol and Chisinau lies on the Moldovan side.

Transnistria’s “Minister of Foreign Affairs” is looking for Ukrainian justice

Later, the deputy from the Action and Solidarity party (in the government) Oazu Nantoi told the Russian portal Kommersant in a discussion about the law, which provides for sanctions for separatism, that the representative of Tiraspol, responsible for the “foreign affairs” of the Transnistria region, Vitaly Ignatiev , “he may be arrested when he arrives in Chisinau.”

Ignatiev holds both Ukrainian and Russian citizenship, and Kyiv ordered him to appear in a Ukrainian court this month to answer charges that he welcomed Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and recent hostile statements toward Ukraine.

Recently, Oleg Serebryan, the Deputy Prime Minister for reintegration, was asked whether the meetings regarding the Transnistrian settlement will take place only in Tiraspol or also in Chisinau.

“We invited colleagues to the discussion process in Chisinau, but they, of course, say that while there is a law on separatism, they call it that, but in fact it is changes to the Criminal Code… They ask for security guarantees, I cannot give these guarantees , because I am not a prosecutor and I am not… but we are ready to go to Bendery and Tiraspol in any case. We have no problems with this,” Serebryan told TV8.

The vice-prime minister for reintegration added that Chisinau will not insist that the meetings take place in the capital of the Republic of Moldova. “Of course, it would be good if these events were held in Chisinau as well as online,” Serebryan said. (photo source Dreamstime)

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