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Dniester region adopts law on state border in retaliation to Chisinau’s unilateral actions

In case the law is adopted, about 300,000 Russians and Ukrainians residing in the Dniester region will find themselves at odds with the law

TIRASPOL, the Dniester region, June 14 (Itar-Tass) - The Dniester Republic has adopted a law on the state border in retaliation to Moldova’s plans to station migration control checkpoints on the administrative border on the Dniester River as the Moldovan authorities are planning to liberalize the visa regime with the European Union, Yevgeny Shevchuk, the leader of the unrecognized Dniester region, told journalists on Friday.

Shevchuk recalled that the three or four months before the Moldovan authorities had announced plans to pass a law installing Moldovan migration control checkpoints on the border with the Dniester region.

”In case the law is adopted, about 300,000 Russian and Ukrainian nationals residing in the Dniester region will find themselves at odds with the law and will be subject to administrative punishment,” Shevchuk said. He added that the Moldovan authorities had shown little cooperation and had been trying to avoid a search for mutually acceptable solutions.

"We are deeply concerned with attempts of enforced recoveries from our citizens,” Shevchuk said.

He added that despite growing tensions the situation in the security zone was under control. At the same time, 246 policemen instead of 100 have been deployed in the town of Bendery in violation of the 1992 agreements. The extra police force was stationed in Bendery without any prior consultations with the Dniester region, Shevchuk clarified.

The Moldovan authorities have condemned the law “On the State Border of the Dniester Republic which Shevchuk signed earlier this week.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara, the current chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), also expressed concern with the decision of the government of the unrecognized Dniester Republic to unilaterally mark a state border along the line of administrative division with Moldova in a recent telephone conversation with Moldovan Prime Minister Yuri Lianke.

He called on participants in negotiations on the Dniester settlement to consolidate their efforts to avert further escalation of conflict.

Kozhara confirmed that he was ready to support the efforts of the Moldovan authorities to improve the situation and bring the sides back to a civilized dialogue at the negotiating table.

On Monday, Yevgeny Shevchuk, the leader of the Dniester region, signed a law unilaterally fixing the state border along the line of administrative division with Moldova. The law pays special attention to measures of protection and defense of the state border which the Dniester region will carry out unilaterally until the adjacent states recognize its sovereignty and independence.

Moldova has called the move contradictory not only in legal terms but also in terms of the logic of the Dniester settlement. Moldova regards what Tiraspol calls “border” as a temporary administrative line, which appeared after Moldova and Russia had signed an Agreement on principles of peaceful settlement of the armed conflict on July 21, 1992.