CHISINAU, December 12. /TASS/. Transnistria says that any escalation in the security zone where the peacekeepers are deployed is unacceptable, the Supreme Council (parliament) of the unrecognized republic said in a statement on the Joint Control Commission, which is in charge of the peacekeeping operation involving Russia, Moldova, Transnistria and Ukraine.
"The Supreme Council thinks it necessary to take effective steps to unblock the work of the Joint Control Commission and the Joint Military Command of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces," says the document posted on the parliament’s site.
It says that as long as the current crisis is dragged on or aggravated, it could lead to the collapse of the working mechanism of the Joint Control Commission and the Joint Military Command, and henceforth, the entire peacekeeping mechanism in the region.
"Recently, many Moldovan leaders, officials and diplomats have been reiterating that peacekeepers must be pulled out of Transnistria. This theme has definitely alarmed the lawmakers," Vice Speaker of Transnistrian parliament Galina Antyufeeva said during debates.
She pointed out that Tiraspol sees no other solutions to the crisis, but an equal dialogue without raising politically motivated issues at negotiation on peacekeepers.
The Transnistrian parliament ruled to launch bilateral consultations on peacekeepers with both houses of the Russian parliament.
"We urge Russia, as the guarantor state, to have the dialogue resumed. Everything needs to be done to prevent any destabilization since the peacekeepers are the only guarantor of security and peace on Transnistrian soil and should carry on with their mission," Antyufeeva stressed.
Last week, Moldova’s President-elect Maia Sandu said at the first news conference after her election that the Russian peacekeeping force and weapons should be pulled out of Transnistria and that the peacekeepers should be replaced with an international mission of civilian observers. Moldovan Incumbent President Igor Dodon advised Sandu not to make harsh statements on the peacekeepers. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that any changes to the status quo might destabilize Transnistria. Russia hopes the issue of peacekeepers will be discussed without any drastic moves made, he added.
Transnistria conflict
Transnistria, a mostly Russian-speaking region, broke away from Moldova following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Its relations with Moldova’s central government in Chisinau have been highly mixed and extremely tense at times ever since then. In 1992 and 1993, tensions erupted into a bloody armed conflict that claimed the lives of hundreds of people on both sides.
The fratricidal war was stopped after a peace agreement was signed in Moscow in 1992 and Russian peacekeepers were brought into the conflict area. Negotiations on the conflict’s peace settlement known as the 5+2 talks (involving Moldova and Transnistria as parties to the conflict, Russia, Ukraine and the European security watchdog OSCE as mediators and the United States and the European Union as observers) started afterwards.