Tiraspol - Moldova - Mafia in Uniform

The President of Moldova, Vladimir Voronin, says Moldova will settle the Transnistrian conflict "in short time". He said every citizen must acknowledge that he is the citizen of an independent Moldova. Border monitoring, diplomatic and political activities have allowed them to "get closer" to reintegrate Transnistria soon. I wonder how this will be done...

There have been several brief scuffles this last Friday and Saturday between Moldavian policemen and Transnistrian militiamen on the road between Dubasari and Ribnita, near the village of Cocieri. The Moldavian policemen were backed by villagers from Cocieri, while the Transnistrians by some military personnel. It seems that things later calmed down:

Infotag - INCIDENT IN SECURITY ZONE SETTLED
Chisinau. The incident, happened between the law and order authorities of Moldova and Transnistria on Friday is settled, Moldova's representative in the Joint Control Commission (JCC) Ion Leahu said.According to him, all the opinions were heard in the course of Saturday JCC sitting, which lasted several hours.
"The employees of the Moldovan police and the Transnistrian militia began clearing up in the Security Zone on the section of the Dubasari-Rybnitsa highway in the vicinity of the Cocieru village, who is the owner of the highway, crossing the Security Zone on the Dniester. The law and order bodies' employees almost whipped up the situation to confrontation. Only owing to interference on the part of the JCC and the OSCE representatives, who arrived to the scene of the event, it was possible to relieve the situation", Leahu remarked.

Two Moldovan policemen has been arrested by Transnistrian para-military police in the ceasefire zone. The policemen were tracking a Transnistrian citizen for narcotics trafficking. The suspect is allegedly also an agent for the Transnistrian security, which might explain why he was protected by the Transnistrian forces.

From a post by Odium on page one:

Originally posted by Odium

"May 6, 2004: A Molotov Cocktail was thrown at the Tiraspol's Synagogue, according to a report by AEN. The attacker also poured flammable liquid on the front door of the synagogue, right near a gas pipe. Thanks to the quick reaction of witnesses the fire was extinguished before it set off the gas. According to Boris Asarov, chairman of the Transdniester NGO "Pro Europa", the attack was masterminded by the extremist Russian nationalist organization Vityaz, headed by former MGB special forces officer Ruslan Pogorletsky. Vityaz uses a swastika-like symbol similar to the one used by the Russian neo-nazi group Russian national Unity. "

en.wikipedia.org...

Vityaz. I knew I've seen that name somewhere. They were the ones using Litvinenko's photo for target practice.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

The OSCE has donated washing machines and industrial dryers to Prison No. 3 in Tiraspol. Women are detained there and children are growing up there as well...

Russia again makes it clear that it has no intention to leave Transnistria:

INFO-PRIM: Russia can not evacuate troops from Transnistria – Russia minister
Russia can not evacuate its troops from Transnistria, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov told a news conference in Seville, Spain, where he participated in the Russia-NATO Council meeting.
According to the Russian official, quoted by RIA-Novosti, the 1500 Russian militaries stationing in Moldova have 2 tasks, the first of which is the role of peacekeepers. Besides this, there are Soviet-era depots with munitions and armament that must be guarded.

Originally posted by taseg

Russia again makes it clear that it has no intention to leave Transnistria:

That was interesting. I wonder if this article from today has any relation to this at all? Norway has reclassified Russia as a military treat...

I guess the CFE is dead now...


So... what's next? An arms race with a build-up of conventional forces? Just like before the start of WWI and WWII...

Has anyone ever connected the current events in Transdniester, Ossetia, Abkhazia, and other separatist republics with Kosovo? NATO is pushing to make separatist Kosovo- an integral part of Serbian land- independent. Sure they are doing this only to justify their war in Yugoslavia. But has anyone considered how forcefully compromising the nation's rights to preserve property and wholesomeness of one sovereign nation (Serbia) in favor of a minority (Kosovo Albanians), can affect other separatist regions?

How are you going to justify granting independence to Kosovo, but not to Transdniester, Ossetia, Abkhazia, North Ireland, Basque, etc.? These regions are monitoring events in Kosovo. These are clear double standards of NATO, and I can tell you it is p*ssing off alot of people in Slavic countries. So if US and NATO are so actively pursuing their strategy in Kosovo, they should at least lay off their pressure on other separatist republics, or be labeled as hypocrits which they are.

I am not in favor of granting independence to any of the above mentioned regions. But NATO and its members are not in position to criticize given their obvious double standards.

[edit on 18-2-2007 by maloy]

[edit on 18-2-2007 by maloy]

Originally posted by maloy

Sure they are doing this only to justify their war in Yugoslavia.

Maybe you're right. It's a different place and a different issue. I have no opinion regarding the Kosovo issue. At least not for the time being.


Regarding Tiraspol,
Transnistria has apparently given up Moldova for good...


What happens next?

South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Transnistria are getting ready for any Georgian, Moldovan, or international threats and challenges...

SECESSIONIST LEADERS COORDINATE ACTIVITIES IN MOSCOW

February 23, 2007


Between February 16 and 21, the “presidents” of South Ossetia and Transnistria and the “foreign ministers” of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transnistria paid overlapping visits to Moscow for talks with Russian government officials and in the State Duma. The three “foreign ministers” also conferred among themselves on February 19-20 to plan an expansion of joint actions by the three secessionist leaderships.

[---]

Transnistria’s “president” Igor Smirnov and “foreign minister” Valery Litskay were received by Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov to discuss the resumption of negotiations with Moldova “on the basis of earlier-achieved understandings” and for the purpose of “creating a viable structure of Moldova and Transnistria” -- code words for Russia-arbitrated “federalization.”

[---]

According to Litskay at the concluding news conference in Moscow on February 21, Transnistria can contribute two battalions that are already operating as part of the existing “peacekeeping” operation in Transnistria.

[---]

Litskay also stated that South Ossetia is ready to contribute its existing “peacekeeping” battalion, and Abkhazia is training a battalion for peacekeeping duty with the planned tripartite contingent. All three components shall be based on their own territories and be available on call to respond to Georgian, Moldovan, or international “threats and challenges.”

Related ATS Threads:
Abkhaz Leader Has Ordered Army To Sink Any Georgian Ships In Its Waters
Gigantic Oil Pipeline From Caspian Sea Opened Today
War In Nagorno Karabakh Can Start At Any Moment

[edit on 2007/2/25 by Hellmutt]

EU are going crazy over an alleged secret deal between Moldova and Russia. A deal which means that Russia can leave their soldiers in Transnistria "forever". It will give Transnistria the power to block future Moldova government decisions, and the Tiraspol clan would get 20 percent of Moldova's parliamentary seats...!

Mediafax: EU In A Spin Over Reports Of Secret Moldova-Russia Deal

I found the original source. It had some more details.

EUobserver.com: EU in a spin over reports of secret Moldova-Russia deal

Russia is suspending participation in the CFE treaty. This is not good...

RFE/RL: NATO Chief Confirms Russia Suspending Arms Treaty

I think that Russia is suspending participation in the CFE treaty, mainly because Russia want's to show it's not happy with USA funding and arming nations like Georgia who are at standoff with Russia. The missile defence has no capability against Russian strategic forces, so to complain about it must be a smokescreen for public.

The ABM system has a very limited capability, and certanly not enough to present any real problem for Russia today. This is not what Russia is protesting about in this case however. The issue at hand is why is US placing the missiles there, and what will follow in the later years as the ABM becomes far more developed and capable. Remember- this is only the first step by NATO/US. Once the ABM system is there, they move on to placing more threatening technologies there. It has nothing to do with Georgia- plus it seems that Saakashvili calmed down a bit.

See US has nothing stopping it from placing that ABM system in Eastern Europe. Heck they can even go ahead and build a naval base in Crimea. And while they are at it NATO can plant their military assets all around Russia's borders. Hell they are starting to do it now. But then when Russia beginning building nuclear submarines again, and constructs new long-range bombers, as well as develops new ICBM delivery systems- don't complain.

Seems like there was a meeting in Washington last week. People in Transnistria live in constant fear of the local "KGB" and there are widespread repression. I haven't read the Tiraspol Times article myself, but here's another link.

Axis News

Russian Order of Honor, Grade I

Igor Smirnov is the sixth person in the world to get decorated with the Russian Order of Honor, Grade I. He recieved it on May 3rd. He apparently got it for "developing democracy" in Transnistria and some other stuff...

Russia decorates transdniester's leader

Tiraspol Tenses Situation

The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of Moldova (HCHRM) has published a press release where they blame Tiraspol for making the region unstable. Apparently, Tiraspol sent several hundreds of "policemen" into a Moldovan village and arrested the mayor. They've also set up unauthorized "armed stations".

The Joint Control Commission are doing nothing because Tiraspol and Russia "do not consider necessary to involve"(?!), even though the incidents happened in the security zone...


Tiraspol Regime tenses the situation in Transnistrian region – HCHRM

The press release specifies that on May 13, 2007, the self-proclaimed regime from Tiraspol sent several hundreds of policemen and armed civilians to Corjevo village and arrested the mayor of the village, Valeriu Mitul and the councillor of the Dubsari raion, Iurie Cotofan.

HCHRM announces about other violations of the fundamental human rights in the region, including the fact that armed stations were set up in places not authorised by the Joint Control Commission, which makes the population from both right and left side of Nistru indignant and could make the situation in the region unstable.

The committee specifies that the decision-making persons within JCC refused to visit the village under the pretext that the representatives of the self-proclaimed regime and of the Russian Federation do not consider necessary to involve, although the incidents occurred in the security zone. HCHRM warns that similar provocations were organised by the separatist regimes in Abkhazia and Georgia and they already had victims.

Related Thread:
Abkhaz Leader Has Ordered Army To Sink Any Georgian Ships In Its Waters

A secret mission and "Transdniestria Days" in Moscow

Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian federation, Yury Zubakov, is apparently on a secret mission in Moldova. And the leadership of Transnistria are in Moscow for "Transdniestria Days". However, Smirnov & Co. received a cool reception in Moscow.

Kommersant was recommended not to write about Zubakov's secret mission and the "Transdniestria Days". However, they did write about it anyway...


Kommersant: Transdniestria Days in Moscow and Chisinau