In Moldova, hopes rise for disputed region |
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| Thursday, 17 March 2005 | |
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By Judy Dempsey International Herald Tribune
TIRASPOL, Moldova Here along the banks of the Dniester River, a dark expanse of dirty water lined by dilapidated buildings, a new chapter is being written in the 13-year conflict between Russia and Moldova over who should control the strip of land known as Transdniestria. . This internationally unrecognized and outwardly unremarkable swath of territory, home to some 600,000 people, has been ruled by pro-Russian hardliners since 1992, when it broke away from the newly independent former Soviet republic of Moldova. . Geography has meant that this impoverished land has long been a focus of Russia's efforts to retain influence in its "near abroad," the other 14 republics that until 1991 made up the Soviet Union. Transdniestria lies in eastern Moldova and shares a border with the much larger former republic of Ukraine. . Last autumn, two elections changed the political realities of this part of Europe. After huge protests against a rigged ballot, Viktor Yushchenko became president of Ukraine. In Moldova's neighbor to the south, Romania, the outspoken Traian Basescu was elected president, and Romania gained its second purely non-Communist government since the bloody revolution that toppled Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989. . So when Moldova's own president, Vladimir Voronin, a Communist who first won power in 2001, faced parliamentary elections this month, he played on the prevailing anti-Russian wind in the region - and won. . This confluence and Yushchenk'sdeclared desire to work for a peaceful solution to reuniting Moldova mean diplomats in the region see an opening for breaking the deadlock over Transdniestria. But they, and regional analysts, know that the stakes are high for Russia. . "It is about loss of empire," said William Hill, head of the mission in Moldova of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the main mediator in the conflict. "Russia has been in this region for a couple of hundred years. It will eventually have to deal with this loss of empire." . During a visit to Berlin last week, Yushchenko said he wanted to attempt a new diplomatic thrust, with help from the United States, the European Union, Romania and Russia - a significant foreign policy shift from his predecessor, Leonid Kuchma, who did little to control the borders with the Transdniestrian region. . For Moldova, a small land of 4.5 million people who mostly struggle to survive, reunification could help draw a line under the Soviet past and thus propel the country toward an as yet uncertain - but undoubtedly more firmly European - future. . "We keep asking Russia what it is doing in Transdniestria," said Andrei Stratan, said Moldova's foreign minister. "They never give us an answer. Maybe they see it in imperial terms, or else they have financial interests there." . Russia still has 1,300 troops stationed in Transdniestria and ammunition it was supposed to withdraw by 2001 under the terms of the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty. . According to diplomats based in Moldova, the separatist regime led by Igor Smirnov provides a base for trafficking in arms, drugs and people. . "Im convinced another reason why the conflict has dragged on is economic," Hill said. "It has to do with the interests of the elites. They do business without paying taxes." . Visitors to Transdniestria are struck by the poverty of the region. Rundown houses along potholed streets form a depressing backdrop to life in Tiraspol, the regional capital. Dissent is systematically repressed by the authorities, according to the territory's few opposition figures, who complain that their windows have been smashed to discourage them from speaking out. . Politicians, diplomats and human rights activists in Moldova say they are puzzled by the way Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, appear to have played their cards with the Moldovan authorities. . "He has alienated his supporters in Chisinau," the Moldovan capital, said Alexander Ratchenko, a member of Transdniestria's regional Parliament and one of the few outspoken critics of Smernov's rule. . Voronin was for several years a close ally of Putin. But he started to turn against Russia in favor of Europe after Putin refused to sell Moldova energy at cheaper prices and refused to stop backing the separatist regime in Transdniestria. Last autumn's elections in Ukraine and Romania cemented this policy shift. . "Overnight, Voronin switched sides because he did not get what he wanted from Putin," said Viorel Cibotaru, director of the independent Institute for Public Policy. "Voronin's goal is now to unite Moldova. He sees how the winds are changing in Ukraine and in Romania where there is a genuinely pro-Europe government. He might have allies to achieve this." . In Tiraspol, Smirnov is showing no signs of nervousness. He is continuing with efforts to establish Transdniestrian state symbols, which are evident on the drive from Chisinau to Tiraspol, a distance of 80 kilometers, or 50 miles. . Along the way, the Moldovan security forces have set up internal customs and border controls to check unauthorized passage of goods coming from Transdniestria. A short distance away, the Transdniestrian security forces have their own barricades, their own national emblems on their uniforms and their own customs stamps. . In Tiraspol itself, Smirnov has created other symbols of statehood with the support of the giant Sheriff investment group, which diplomats said consisted of Russian and Ukrainian shareholders. . Sheriff has built a giant sports complex that includes a state-of-the-art football stadium with underground heating for the natural grass pitch and seating for 14,000 spectators. . Diplomats in Chisinau estimated that the complex had cost $100 million to $250 million, a huge sum of money in the region. Average annual income in Moldova is $760 per capita, according to the U.S. State Department. . "Very little of the business activities trickles down to the population," Hill said. . Sheriff has also built an Orthodox religous complex in the center of Tiraspol with a cathedral, a parish house and administrative facilities for the bishopric and diocese. The diocese was founded by the Moscow Patriarchate in 1998 along the self-proclaimed administrative borders of the Transdniestrian region. . Smirnov, meanwhile, has tried to close down schools that teach in Moldovan, which is identical to Romanian, and that use the Latin rather than the Cyrillic alphabet. Last summer, his security forces smashed up several schools in the neighboring town of Bender. . "I tried to find out from Smirnov why he was attacking the schools," said Dimitri Rupel, foreign minister of Slovenia and now the current chairman-in-office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. "He said the teachers should be using the local curriculum" - taught in Russian - "not the Moldovan one." . "It is like Stalinist times," said Grigori Pavlovic, editor of Novya Gazeta, a daily newspaper in Tiraspol. "There is no choice. Without a free press, we cannot have a civil society or opposition." . .
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