The Old Guard Wins in Transdniestria
// Sheriff for an hour
The results of the referendum in Transdniestria were released yesterday. Ninety-seven percent of the residents of the unrecognized republic voted in favor of unification with Russia. President of Transdniestria Igor Smirnov announced that he is running for another term. The referendum vote has shown that a tense battle for power has broken out in the unrecognized republic, and the victory has been garnered by Smirnov's old guard. Kommersant has a special report by Vladimir Solovyev and Mikhail Zygar.
Love's Price
They don't love Russian anywhere as much as they do in Transdniestria. Love for Russia, which keeps the republic alive, is the official ideology. The 16-year pro-Russian propaganda campaign has prevented the merger of the republic with Moldova, and thus made it possible for them to maintain their influence. Love for Russia is taught in childhood. Schools teach Russian history and Transdniestrian history, without even a mention of Moldovan history.
“We teach children in the lessons who they are, who their ancestors are and where their allies are,” Tiraspol schoolteacher Zinaida Georgievna. “That is very important for the republic. In the ethnic plan, there is almost no difference between the population of Moldova and Transdniestria. There is almost an identical proportion of Moldovans, Russians and Ukrainians. But an important factor that is useful for distinguishing us is that we love Russia.”
In the 16 years of the republic's existence, a generation has grown up that believes that that land was always Russian and had never voluntarily been associated with Moldova.
The republic's pro-Russian stance has played an even more important role in domestic politics. There are dozens of parties and movements in the republic that are in favor of joining Russia. An Anti-Russia force is unthinkable, for any criticism of Russia is political suicide.
But the referendum last Sunday has shown that Transdniestrian society is not united in its love for Russia. A serious struggle for power has begun and, as a consequence, for the love of Russia. Various political forces are trying to show that they love Russia more than the next one.
“Love for Russia is now being converted into money,” says Russia State Duma member Viktor Alksnis, who is in Tiraspol as an election observer. “Love of Russia has become a condition for doing business in Transdniestria. But that love is very undependable.”
Love's Struggle
“Our fighting power is comparable to that of Moldova and we are ready to rebuff any aggression,” says Gen. Oleg Gudymo, one of the founders of the Transdniestrian special services. He was long the deputy to Transdniestrian Minister of State Security Vladimir Antyufeev. The efforts of the security agencies are responsible in large part for isolating the republic from its neighbors. Transdniestria has powerful state security and a well-equipped army. When it conducts exercises, the likely opponent is always seen as Moldova.
For its entire existence, Transdniestrian authorities have done everything they could to separate themselves from Moldova. A separate banking system was established with its own currency, the Transdniestrian ruble. Two years ago, Transdniestria separated from Chisinau energy services and created its own gas transport company, Tiraspoltransgaz, which was later bought by Gazprom. Transdniestrian railroads have been disconnected, and their cellular phones operate on the CDMA standard instead of GSM, as in Moldova.
The self-isolation has been profitable not only to the authorities and special services, but to businesses close to them as well. At the beginning of the 1990s, Viktor Gushan and Ilya Kazmaly left the special services to form the Sheriff firm. In time, Sheriff concentrated all profitable private business: petroleum products, retail, wholesale, telecommunications, media. The company was cooperative with the authorities from the start ad supported the Smirnov regime any way it could. And the favor was returned. Sheriff does not pay taxes to the republic, nor import duties to the customs service, run by Smirnov's son Vladimir.
Transdniestria's isolation has nonetheless become unprofitable to Sheriff. The indeterminate status of the region has slowed the monopoly's growth and made it possible for it to enter outside markets. International recognition of the republic would be the ideal solution to the problem. The Renewal movement was founded a few years ago with Sheriff's support. It favors independence, liberalization of the economy and limited presidential power. Renewal received a majority in last year's parliamentary elections and has begun to crowd in on the old guard. The first thing Renewal members did was to retire speaker of the Supreme Council Grigory Marakutsa, who came to power with Smirnov. His place was taken by Renewal leader Evgeny Shevchuk. Understanding that Moscow's approval is essential to meet their goal, Shevchuk has become a frequent visitor there. He is also preparing for the December 132 presidential elections.
Love's Rejection
The conservative elements in the Transdniestrian leadership are frightened by the young reformers, who have taken away their monopoly on access to Moscow. Shevchuk's independent contacts with the republic's Russian managers were taken as a challenge. With the reformers' money and Kremlin access, the old veterans will soon be unneeded. Smirnov and his circle consider it a real threat and used their Moscow connections for a counterattack and Alksnis read a report in the Duma that accused Shevchuk and Sheriff of plotting a coup d'etat in Transdniestria.
“We first received information that Sheriff was making an attempt to come to power a year ago,” Alksnis recounts, “They wanted to take control of the parliament and gradually reduce the power of the president. I have information that the leaders of that company made an agreement with Moldovan authorities on an exchange. Chisinau will allow them to legalize their business and Sheriff will carry out a soft integration with Moldova.”
Accusations of secret ties to Moldova are a frontal assault. Collaboration with Moldova is unforgivable for anybody. Shevchuk and Sheriff launched their own counteroffensive. Using material from a parliamentary commission that audited the results of privatization, Shevchuk sent the Russian Duma information on Alksnis's personal interests in the privatization of the Moldovan Electric Station. That material was forwarded to the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, which, however, did not initiate a case based on it.
After Moscow thought up the referendum, the veterans and reformers got ready for a fight. Moscow needed the referendum to pressure Chisinau and Kiev, but the Transdniestrians decided to get some benefit from it as well. The reformers saw it as a step toward recognition and thus legalization of their capital. The conservatives saw it as a worsening of relations with Moldova, which they counted on to strengthen the status quo. Both sides wanted the exclusive right to organize the referendum for the points it would earn them in the upcoming presidential elections. The first skirmish in that battle was won by the reformers, as a result of which the word “independence” appeared on the ballot next to the phrase “unification with Russia.”
But the conservatives had better connections in Moscow and they received its support. Shevchuk was summoned to Moscow and advised not to horn in too far. Then the movement For Unity with Russia was founded under the leadership of the president's man Foreign Minister Valery Litskai, who hinted freely at his loyalty to the Kremlin. Transdniestrian businesses that had been privatized into Russian hands supported the group.
“We have Russian monopolies in every city,” Litskai told Kommersant. “Before, there was no tendency to give money for the formation of political projects… Of course, the monopolists called Moscow and asked what to do.”
Shevchuk disappeared from the television screen in Transdniestria and, according to information obtained by Kommersant, Russian state media were ordered not to mention him either. He was even hard to find on the day of the referendum. Smirnov, meanwhile, was proposing hat Russian and Transdniestrian financial, economic and tax laws be harmonized.
He voted in the village of Rybnitsa, far from the crowds of journalists in Tiraspol. “Everyone heard aide to the president of Russia Sergey Prikhodko say that the territorial integrity of Moldova is an imperative,” he noted. “So there will be no unification with Russia tomorrow.”
Vladimir Solovyev, Mikhail Zygar
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 19, 2006
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