Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin thinks that a Transdniestria settlement is within reach now.
Photo: Michail Galustov
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Moldovan President Comes for Deal
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin will meet in Moscow today. The Communist Voronin was awarded the prize For Exceptional Activities to Strengthen the Unity of the Orthodox Peoples from Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexiy II and he is hoping for even better things today.
It would appear that Voronin's exceptional activity on the behalf of the Church was to defend the Moscow Patriarchate from the encroachment of the Bessarabian Metropolitan of the Romanian Orthodox Church. This religious difference is among the reasons for the large-scale dispute that has arisen between Chisinau and Bucharest, in which Russia has taken Moldova's side.
Voronin's talks with Putin over natural gas and Moldova's breakaway republic of Transdniestria will be complex, however. Voronin will offer to recognize privatization in Transdniestria that has already taken place, to form united armed forces, a joint television channel and integrated railway, to remove customs checkpoints on the border and to decrease the number of joint peacekeeping posts. These proposals made a big stir in the Moldovan press, but Moscow has reacted more coolly.
Now Voronin can present his case directly to the Russian president. Kommersant has information that the will also broach the subject of gas deliveries. Russia is selling natural gas to Moldova for $191.25 per 1000 cu. m. this quarter, a record for the region, and $11 more than it demanded from Ukraine.
Moscow is giving Voronin a warm welcome and preparing its own compromise proposal for Transdniestria. According to a source close to the negotiations, Moscow, in return, wants Moldova not only to guarantee its neutrality by writing it into its constitution, but by preparing an international legal document for Russia, the United States and the European Union to sign. Notable, the other members of the GUAM organization (Georgia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan), of which Moldova is the final member, have already expressed their pro-NATO orientation.
In addition, Moscow will insist on its continuing military presence in Transdniestria and on a guarantee that the results of privatization in Transdniestria will be respected – Russian businessmen participated actively in that process. Voronin's political about-face will complicate his life at home.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 22, 2008
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