The head of the unrecognized Transnistrian Moldavian Republic, Vadim Krasnoselsky, addressed Moldovan officials and called on the authorities in Chisinau to come to their senses and abandon the path of aggression.
⠀
Earlier, the Customs Service of Moldova reported that Chisinau had canceled the benefits provided to Transnistrian companies when paying customs taxes. The corresponding changes to the Tax Code of Moldova came into force on January 1.
⠀
“I ask the Moldovan authorities to come to their senses and abandon the path of aggression, to take the path of normal peaceful positive negotiations, which I constantly urge you to do. Maybe you will hear me someday,” Krasnoselsky said, as quoted by the head’s press service PMR.
⠀
The leader of Pridnestrovie also noted that the introduction of customs duties by Chisinau for Pridnestrovian economic entities and citizens is a violation of human rights, the right to entrepreneurial activity and activity. He also added that taxes form the local budget, and payments for all social obligations are made from it.
⠀
“What happened in the first days of January is understandable, unfortunately. Reading the Moldavian media, I noted the following nuance: the right political wing is announcing some kind of victory. What kind of victory are you talking about? You don’t know what you’re really doing. This is not a strong step is a step of a weak one. You are weak leaders,” Krasnoselsky noted.
⠀
He also drew attention to the fact that the Pridnestrovian side is ready for negotiations in the “5+2” format and for dialogue on other platforms. According to him, only negotiations can solve certain problems, “and to introduce restrictions treacherously, without warning, is a blow to the entire population of Transnistria.”
⠀
“You simply don’t understand the consequences that may follow your actions. This is a manifestation of weakness. A manifestation of strength is a conversation, a dialogue. And what you did is a path to nowhere, into emptiness. Empty relationships, empty conversations, a path of tension escalation… People living here, citizens of Moldova, Russia, Ukraine and other states are suffering from your actions – those who even, perhaps, once voted for you,” Krasnoselsky concluded.
⠀
The negotiations on the Transnistrian settlement in the “5+2” format involve Chisinau and Tiraspol as parties to the conflict, Russia, Ukraine, the OSCE as mediators, and the European Union and the United States as observers. The last round of negotiations took place in Bratislava on October 9 and 10, 2019.
⠀
Transnistria, 60% of whose residents are Russian and Ukrainian, sought secession from Moldova even before the collapse of the USSR, fearing that in the wake of nationalism Moldova would join Romania. In 1992, after a failed attempt by the Moldavian authorities to solve the problem by force, Transnistria became virtually a territory beyond the control of Chisinau.
