The authorities of Tiraspol announced on Monday that they are preparing for a large-scale protest action, scheduled for Wednesday, January 24, and directed against the “economic pressure of Chisinau”. In this context, the leader of the separatist region, Vadym Krasnoselsky, appealed to the unconstitutional forces in the region to increase their activity in “monitoring and countering possible terrorist acts”, according to the Chisinau press, cited by News.ro.

The protest was supposed to take place due to Chisinau’s recent changes to the Customs Code, which oblige business entities from the Transnistrian region to pay import taxes to the budget of the Republic of Moldova from January 1, 2024, which caused the indignation of the Transnistrian leader.

“The administration of the city of Tiraspol and the city of Dnistrovsk has received a notification about the organization of a rally of labor groups on January 24 against the economic discrimination of the residents of Transnistria by the leadership of the Republic of Moldova”, Tiraspol’s authorities reported this, NewsMaker.md reports.

In this context, the leader of the Tiraspol administration, Vadym Krasnoselsky, ordered the “armed and security forces” in the region, which Chisinau considers unconstitutional, to increase surveillance with the help of drones, “strengthen the borders” and “fight against cyber attacks.” , but at the same time make efforts to “simplify border crossing”.

Chisinau’s reaction

The Office of Reintegration Policy from Chisinau, contacting NewsMaker.md with a request for a reaction, expressed “regret” over the announced protest action on the left bank of the Dniester. “Tiraspol continues to manage propaganda activities that have nothing to do with freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, which are not only prohibited in the region, but are also criminally prosecuted, especially if they do not coincide with the positions of regional decision-makers,” the office’s representatives said.

Regarding the instructions given by Krasnoselski, the Office of Reintegration Policy in Chisinau said that the competent national authorities would “closely” monitor the development of the situation in the region and intervene by taking “necessary measures”.

“It is not clear what the warning signals referred to by Tiraspol are about and what arguments they are based on, the feeling that a person navigates in virtual spaces remains,” the Office of Reintegration commented.

A protest action similar to the one announced on Wednesday was organized on January 11 at the Bendery-Varnytsia point. At the time, the demonstrators said that the changes to the Customs Code would lead to a sudden increase in prices, and asked the Chisinau authorities to abandon them. “Robbering the people is not the way to Europe,” they chanted. In response, the Reintegration Policy Office said at the time that “it is important to distinguish between freedom of expression, which is constantly censored and persecuted in the Transnistrian region, and events directed by propagandists, which constantly violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.”

The new Customs Code of the Republic of Moldova, which entered into force on January 1, obliges business entities in the Transnistrian region to pay customs payments to the state budget. Until now, although the companies on the left bank of the Dniester were registered in Chisinau, they paid customs duties to the budget of Transnistria. This change caused dissatisfaction with the Tiraspol authorities, who accuse the Kishinev of taxing Transnistrian companies.

On January 10, Vice-Prime Minister for Reintegration Oleg Serebryan assured that, despite the pressure from Tiraspol, Chisinau will not give up changes in the Customs Code.

New warnings that Moscow is up to something

On the other hand, only on Monday, in its latest analysis, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in Washington drew attention – for the second time this month – to the fact that Moscow seeks to destabilize the Republic of Moldova and justify any future Russian escalation in the region, and for separatist leaders from Transnistria are encouraged by Russia to try to sow instability and division in the Republic of Moldova.

At the same time, the Intelligence and Security Service (SIS) of the Republic of Moldova announced last week that it had received information about a new group, which includes former corrupt members of the special services, which intends to destabilize the situation in Moldova and endanger regional security. The main goal of the group will be to compromise diplomatic relations between Moldova and Ukraine and undermine trust between the state structures of the two countries, SIS warns.

Recently, President Maia Sandu, who condemned the coup attempt organized by Russia early last year, said that the Moldovan authorities know that in the spring of 2024, Moscow will resume actions to try to destabilize the situation in Moldova. The statements were made in Timisoara at a press conference on the occasion of receiving the Timisoara Prize for European Values, which angered Russia, which responded with a series of accusations against Maia Sandu and Romania.

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