CHISINAU, May 30. /TASS/. The Moldavian army’s exercises involving an airdrop operation have caused concern in Transnistria, Oleg Belyakov, the co-chair of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) from the unrecognized republic, has said while commenting on the drills held near the town of Vadul-lui Voda close to buffer zone.
"Near the Moldovan community of Vadul-lui-Voda, about 120 paratroopers were parachuted in this month. There had been no notification to the Joint Military Command or other bodies of the peacekeeping operation," Belyakov said, noting that the Transnistrian side had questions to ask about such drills. He recalled that in May, "large-scale military exercises with the participation of NATO military personnel" took place in other parts of Moldova.
"Then a large number of military servicemen was air-dropped. Aren't these landings somehow connected to each other? Any such training is fraught with a military buildup and preparations for specific actions. Personnel do not train just like that with no particular aim," Belyakov noted.
Russian peacekeepers were introduced into the military conflict zone on July 29, 1992 in accordance with the agreement on the principles of peace settlement of the armed conflict in the Transnistrian region of Moldova, signed on July 21, 1992 by the presidents of Russia and Moldova in the presence of the leader of Transnistria. They are currently maintaining peace in the buffer zone along the Dniester River, together with the Blue Helmets from Moldova, Transdniestria and a group of military observers from Ukraine. The effectiveness of this operation is seen in the fact that in 31 years there has not been a single outbreak of violence or loss of life in the conflict security zone.
Alongside the peacekeepers there is a Russian group of troops in the region numbering about 1,000 soldiers and officers. Its task is both to support the peacekeeping operation and to guard warehouses where more than 20,000 tons of ammunition are in store after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from European countries. The process of their removal and utilization was blocked by the Transnistrian authorities in 2004 after tensions between the two banks of the Dniester surged up.
Chisinau insists not only on the withdrawal of this group, but also suggests replacing the peacekeepers with a civilian mission under an international mandate. However, Tiraspol opposes the withdrawal of the Russian military, as the civilian mission failed to prevent an armed conflict in 1992, in which more than a thousand people died and tens of thousands were wounded and became refugees.