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Moldova President Igor Dodon criticized a recent resolution passed by the United Nations calling for the removal of Russian ‘peacekeeping’ troops from the breakaway Transdniester region situated on the border with Ukraine, calling the resolution ‘politically motivated’. Dodon declared the measure was drafted by the pro-EU government in Chisinau.
“I have assessed the anti-Russian declarations which in recent weeks were adopted at different international floors and are related to the role of peacekeeping process in the Republic of Moldova,” Dodon wrote. “As the head of state, I noticed their absolutely politicized nature, which runs counter to the real situation in the Republic of Moldova,” reported Russian state news agency TASS.
According to the president, “one-sided statements heard from high rostrums have nothing to do with the state of affairs concerning the peacekeeping operation in Moldova and are nothing but an intra-political fight and positioning in the context of the coming parliamentary election in Moldova…The peacekeeping operation has positive influence on the restart of 5+2 dialogue, seeking the soonest comprehensive political solution to the Transnistria conflict,” he said.
Moldova’s Struggle Between East And West Continues
On June 22, the United Nations General Assembly passed a draft resolution urging immediate and complete withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Transnistria. The draft was passed by a simple majority of votes, with 64 nations saying yes, 15 saying no, and 83 abstaining. The draft was initiated by Moldova, jointly with Georgia, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Ukraine, and Estonia, wrote TASS.
Transdniester is considered one of the first ‘frozen conflicts’ created from the fall of the Soviet Union. A war was fought in the early 1990s and hundred died as a result. There is a large depot of aging Soviet munitions in the region guarded by several thousand Russian troops. It’s dismantling has been delayed due to tensions with the Moldovan government.
