Transnistrian power wielding forces' representatives repeatedly defy present mechanism of carrying out peacekeeping operations

Chisinau, 1 August /MOLDPRES/ - Moldova’s delegation to the Joint Control Commission (JCC) has reiterated its concern and perplexity about preparations for an unauthorized carrying out of military exercises, providing for leaping the Dniester river, which would trigger new tension in the Security Zone, the Reintegration Policies Bureau has reported.

On 31 July 2017, concentration of military machinery and equipment was noticed in the region of “soldiers’ beach” nearby the Ternovca village, eastern Slobozia district. The immediate departure of military observers was blocked by the Higher Military Command of peacekeepers on behalf of Tiraspol. Thus, the provisions of the item 4.2 of JCC’s protocol decision from 13 January 2017 and the agreements of the co-heads from 27 July this year were violated. Under the protocol and the agreements, the sides agreed that, during the summer, they would abstain from unilateral actions, which might lead to the destabilization of the situation in the Security Zone.   

It is worth mentioning that, following the withdrawal of the military machinery and equipment, in two hours, military observers went on the spot, where they noticed a unit of armoured vehicles, without identifying its origin. While the Joint Military Command was undertaking measures to settle the emerged situation, on 1 August 2017, Russian and Transnistrian military structures withdrew the armouured vehicles and blocked the sector of holding the military exercises scheduled, without informing the Joint Military Command beforehand.   

We describe the aforementioned actions, as well as other similar precedents, undertaken by the Transnistrian side and backed by the leadership of the contingent of peacekeepers on behalf of Russia, as provocative and defying, as they violate the present mechanism of holding the peacekeeping mission. The representatives of the expansive Tiraspol show incapacity to observe the obligations assumed, fully ignoring the basic documents of the Commission and thus blocking the earlier reached agreements by the co-heads.