Meeting of co-heads of Joint Control Commission does not take place

Chisinau, 7 May /MOLDPRES/ - The head of Moldova’s Delegation to the Joint Control Commission (JCC) has launched an invitation to organize a working meeting at the level of the JCC co-heads, with the participation of representatives of Ukraine and OSCE Mission in Moldova.    

According to the issues earlier agreed upon, the meeting was to take place on 7 May, at the Chisinau-based headquarters of the OSCE Mission, having on the agenda up-to-date aspects of the work of the peacekeeping mechanism, in the context of the establishment of the emergency state in the settlements from the Security Zone. Yet, before the meeting’s summoning, the Transnistrian side refused to come to the event, for which reason the meeting was not held, the Reintegration Policies Bureau has reported.      

It is worth noting that the last enlarged working meeting of the Joint Control Commission members took place in Bender on 12 March 2020. After the emergency state had been declared in Moldova and measures were enforced to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 infection, the Joint Control Commission temporarily ceased its meetings in the Bender city and acted in the distance working regime. Permanent communication between all components of the peacekeeping operation was maintained, including at the level of the Joint Military Command and the military observers.   

In the difficult moments of the fight with the pandemic, Moldova’s Delegation to JCC is by the side of the residents from the settlements of the Security Zone and shares the concerns of the citizens about Tiraspol’s excessive and abuse measures.     

Moldova’s delegation considers that the organization of the aforementioned meeting was necessary, in order to identify solutions to multiple problems accumulated in the Security Zone, as a result of the strengthening of the infrastructure of the illegal ‘’control posts’’ under the pretext of the anti-epidemic measures. Given the unilateral actions of the Tiraspol representatives, the situation in the Security Zone has constantly worsened on the last period, with the affecting of the residents’ right to free movement, as well as of the activity of the military observers, through the blocking of their mission of monitoring the situation and documenting of the infringements committed.     

Moldova’s delegation finds out, with regret, that the Transnistrian side defies the basic acts of the peacekeeping mechanisms established through the ceasefire agreement on the principles of the peaceful settlement of the armed conflict from Moldova’s Transnistrian region from 21 July 1992. Tiraspol did not accept the appeal of Moldova’s Delegation from 1 April 2020 and not only did not instruct immediate measures for the de-blocking of the activity of the military observers and unconditional removing of the obstacles set in an unauthorized way and abusively, but continued strengthening them.     

Moldova’s delegation relies on the joint efforts of the other components of the Joint Control Commission – Russia’s delegation, representatives of Ukraine and OSCE Mission – in order to prompt Tiraspol to liquidate the infringements fixed in the Security Zone, as well as in order to reestablish the efficient mechanisms of cooperation of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces, in strict accordance with the framework documents of the peacekeeping mission at Dniester.