The second meeting this year between Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin (right) and leader of the unrecognized Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic Igor Smirnov is meant to show the NATO countries that Russia can solve territorial problems not only with the use of military forces, but by diplomatic methods as well.
Photo: ITAR-TASS
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Transdniestrian Conflict Unthawing
// Moscow makes peace between Chisinau and Tiraspol before NATO meeting
The second meeting this year between Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin and leader of the unrecognized Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic Igor Smirnov is about to take place. That is but a prelude to an even bigger event, the signing of a joint statement on the resolution of the longtime conflict with the preservation of Moldova’s territorial integrity. That document will be signed in the presence of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and will launch the final settlement process of the Transdniestrian problem. Moscow is rushing to show off its successes in this field before the December meeting of NATO foreign ministers.
Authorities in Chisinau and Tiraspol are preparing for the meeting of the two leaders. Last week, Smirnov announced that he had instructed the Transdniestrian Foreign Ministry to prepare materials for the negotiations. Smirnov said contacts were being renewed in order to normalize relations between the two sides of the Dniester River and “ensure peace, stability and prosperous conditions for the peoples of the republic.”
Smirnov did not specify the date of the talks. Kommersant has learned from a source in the Transdniestrian Foreign Ministry, however, that the meeting will be this week. “We insisted that it take place on September 19, but that didn’t suit the Moldovan side. Chisinau is suggesting September 23, but that isn’t good for us,” a high-placed source in the Transdniestrian Foreign Ministry said. “Now we are talking about the second half of the week.” The source said the negotiations could take place earlier as well.
The place of the meeting remains unchanged. Voronin and Smirnov will meet in the city of Bendery, where their first face-to-face meeting in seven years took place on April 11. Since then, events have taken place that clearly show Moscow’s desire for a final settlement of the Transdniestrian problem and peace between Chisinau and Tiraspol. Medvedev received Voronin and Smirnov separately in his Sochi residence and assured them both that Russia would become the guarantor of the future agreement between them.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov repeated that promise at the end of the week speaking to the Federation Council. “Russia will actively cooperate in the peaceful resolution of all conflicts within the CIS on the basis of international law and respect for all the principles of the UN Charter and previously reached agreements. We will therefore realize our intermediary role in the negotiation process; that applies in full measure to Transdniestria and Nagorny Karabakh,” Lavrov stated. To make sure the Transdniestrian leadership was not tempted to demand recognition for their republic by analogy with South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Lavrov clearly stated that “The South Ossetia crisis did not set a precedent.”
The negotiations between Voronin and Smirnov are just part of the Russian plan to resolve the longtime conflict. In Bendery, they are supposed to agree on positions and prepare for a more significant event, a joint meeting on Russian territory in the presence of the Russian president. That moment is meant to be the turning point in the negotiating process. Kommersant has learned that, under Medvedev’s watchful eye, the leaders of the conflicting sides are to sign a joint statement of adherence to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. A commitment to beginning negotiations on the legal status of the Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic within a united Moldova is another key point in the document.
Kommersant sources in the Russian Foreign Ministry say that the historical trilateral meeting should take place no later than November so that Moscow can show weighty peacekeeping accomplishments in Transdniestria in time for the December meeting of the foreign ministers of the NATO member states. Neither Chisinau nor Tiraspol is opposed to that. Voronin, whose country will hold parliamentary elections in the spring, has agreed to Moscow’s condition that his country’s neutral military and political status be put down in writing in a separate document. Smirnov is also showing his loyalty. After his meeting with Medvedev, he stopped demanding independence for his republic.
“At present, Moscow’s desire to launch the peacekeeping process exceeds all others and Smirnov and Voronin understand that very well,” a high-placed source in Chisinau commented. “It is important for Russia to show a positive result in December. Considering the consequences of the events in the Caucasus, it will look very nice.”
If events develop as Moscow plans, Russia will prove to the West that it is able to solve territorial problems in the former Soviet Union not only with the use of military forces, but by diplomatic methods as well. In addition, the United States and European Union will have the chance to participate directly in the settlement between Chisinau and Tiraspol, since Moscow does not object to completing the process it has begun in the 5+2 format (Russia, Ukraine, OSCE, Moldova, Transdniestria, the U.S. and EU).
Vladimir Solovyev
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 22, 2008
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