Connect with us

Reintegration

UN General Assembly adopts Moldova’s resolution on withdrawal of “foreign military forces” from its territory

Published

on

Reading Time: 2 minutes

22 June 2018- The United Nations General Assembly adopted by a simple majority Moldova’s resolution titled “Complete and unconditional withdrawal of foreign military forces from the territory of the Republic of Moldova”.

The document was co-sponsored by Canada, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Poland and the United Kingdom.

The resolution calls on the UN Member States to urge the Russian Federation to “complete orderly, unconditionally and without further delay the withdrawal of the Russian Operational Group of Russian Forces” (more commonly known as OGRT or OGRV), in accordance to its commitment agreed at the 1999 OSCE Istanbul Summit, but also the UN Charter.

The Russian Federation delegate proposed a motion to take no action on Moldova’s resolution, because it would need consultations, claiming that the document was sent very late to the Secretariat contrary to the transparency principle. The Russian request was rejected.

Put to vote, the resolution was adopted with a simple majority of 64 votes in favor, 15 against, and 83 abstentions.

This is how UN member states voted on Moldova’s resolution:

The revised draft resolution was submitted in the following shape:

Previously, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the person of Vice-Minister Grigory Karasin, has called Moldova’s resolution “counterproductive” and “provocative”, that would mess the peaceful development of the Transnistrian issue settlement. Transnistria’s “foreign minister”, Vitaly Ignatiev, has told NovostiPMR that the “destructive” resolution is directly threatening the peacekeeping operation by withdrawing the Russian peacekeepers.


Besides the 441 peacekeepers, Russia holds the Operative Group of the Russian Forces in the Transnistrian region of Moldova containing approximately 1200 regular soldiers, mainly recruited among locals. The Group is the new shape of the former 14th Guards Army of the Soviet Union that is illegally stationed in Transnistria after the collapse of SU. The Group and the Peacekeeping Mission are strongly interconnected through the rotation of troops between them, and both contain local Transnistrian men with Russian passports, despite their neutrality claims. Russian authorities hold the belief that the Group is an essential part of the peacekeeping operation.

In 2017 and the start of 2018, experts have seen a significant increase in OGRT’s military activity.

Politics

Promo-LEX about Maia Sandu’s UN speech: The president must insist on appointing a rapporteur to monitor the situation of human rights in Transnistria

Published

on

Reading Time: 2 minutes

The President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, pays an official visit to New York, USA, between September 21-22. There, she participates in the work of the United Nations General Assembly. According to a press release of the President’s Office, the official will deliver a speech at the tribune of the United Nations.

In this context, the Promo-LEX Association suggested the president to request the appointment of a special rapporteur in order to monitor the situation of human rights in the Transnistrian region. According to Promo-LEX, the responsibility for human rights violations in the Transnistrian region arises as a result of the Russian Federation’s military, economic and political control over the Tiraspol regime.

“We consider it imperative to insist on the observance of the international commitments assumed by the Russian Federation regarding the withdrawal of the armed forces and ammunition from the territory of the country,” the representatives of Promo-LEX stated. They consider the speech before the UN an opportunity “to demand the observance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the Russian Federation with reference to this territory which is in its full control.”

“It is important to remember about the numerous cases of murder, torture, ill-treatment, forced enlistment in illegal military structures, the application of pseudo-justice in the Transnistrian region, all carried out under the tacit agreement of the Russian Federation. These findings stem from dozens of rulings and decisions issued by the European Court of Human Rights, which found that Russia is responsible for human rights violations in the region.”

The association representatives expressed their hope that the president of the country would give priority to issues related to the human rights situation in the Transnistrian region and would call on relevant international actors to contribute to guaranteeing fundamental human rights and freedoms throughout Moldova.

They asked Maia Sandu to insist on the observance of the obligation to evacuate the ammunition and the military units of the Russian Federation from the territory of the Republic of Moldova, to publicly support the need for the Russian Federation to implement the ECtHR rulings on human rights violations in the Transnistrian region, and to request the appointment of an UN Human Rights Council special rapporteur  to monitor the human rights situation in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova.

**

The Promo-LEX Association concluded that 14 out of 25 actions planned within the National Action Plan for the years 2018–2022 concerning respecting human rights in Transnistria were not carried out by the responsible authorities.

The association expressed its concern and mentioned that there are a large number of delays in the planned results. “There is a lack of communication and coordination between the designated institutions, which do not yet have a common vision of interaction for the implementation of the plan.”

Promo-LEX requested the Government of the Republic of Moldova to re-assess the reported activities and to take urgent measures, “which would exclude superficial implementation of future activities and increase the level of accountability of the authorities.”

Photo: peacekeeping.un.org

Continue Reading

Elections

Russia’s legislative elections: Why are there 27 polling stations in Transnistria?

Published

on

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Legislative elections are currently being held in Russia between September 17-19, as 450 new members in the State Duma need to be elected.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) of the Russian Federation decided to open a record number of polling stations in the Transnistrian region – 27 polling stations, in addition to only 3 polling station opened on the right bank of the Dniester in such big cities as Chisinau, Comrat and Balti.

That is the largest number of polling stations opened by the Russian CEC in a foreign country, and five polling stations more than in the 2016 elections. Two of the polling stations were established in Tiraspol, being open from Friday to Sunday. The rest of the Russian polling stations on the Transnistrian territory are opened on Sunday only. The most astonishing fact is that no state other than Russia has ever opened polling stations in the separatist region of the Republic of Moldova. Actually, no polling stations are being opened on the Transnistrian territory when it comes to national elections of the Republic of Moldova either.

Therefore, one could say that the stakes are high when it comes to Transnistrian voters, especially since, most likely, the hopes of Russian authorities are not necessarily based on a large turnout and their real support, rather on the real possibility of electoral fraud on a territory that is not controlled by the constitutional authorities in Chisinau.

Before the presidential elections in 2018, Russian authorities announced that there are 220 thousand Russian citizens living in the Transnistrian region. That time, 24 polling stations were opened in the separatist area. Despite the fact that the Tiraspol Electoral Commission announced that, in the last year and a half alone, the voter turnout has officially fallen in the region by more than 7 700 people, the Russian CEC still decided to establish a record number of polling stations this year, which strengthened the argument about the possibility of election fraud.

Both Tiraspol’s administration and the regional media campaigned for the ruling political party United Russia and called for a high turnout at polling stations. Transnistria’s leader, Vadim Krasnoselski, urged the people on the left bank of the Dniester to come to the polls “because despite all the difficulties, Russia does not forget Transnistria and helps it as much as possible.”

It seems that the campaigning, along with the Russian sponsorship in the region, show great results during every election ballot, as Russian citizens voting in Russian elections in Transnistria are a more active electorate than Moldovan citizens residing in Transnistria and voting in the Moldovan elections at the polling stations arranged on the other bank of the Dniester, especially for them. In the previous Russia’s legislative elections, 56 thousand people voted in Transnistria, while just under 29 thousand inhabitants of the Transnistrian region voted in the recent Moldova’s parliamentary elections.

Before every election ballot held in the Russian Federation, Moldovan authorities make statements, suggesting the Russian side to abstain from opening polling stations in Transnistria, whereas Russian authorities ignore them every time.

This year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova also sent a note of protest against opening the polling stations in Transnistria. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration regrets that, despite the position consistently expressed by the Moldovan authorities, the Russian side acted in a manner that does not correspond to the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova and the bilateral legal framework.”

The Ministry representatives noted that Russian authorities were informed of the lack of impediments to open polling stations in localities under the control of Moldova’s constitutional authorities and requested the Russian side to refrain from opening the 27 polling stations in the localities of the breakaway region, given the impossibility of ensuring the necessary security conditions for the current elections.

Moscow’s Central Election Commission also opened nine polling stations in Abkhazia and ten in South Ossetia – two disputed territories that were internationally recognised by Russia and a few more countries, while considered under military occupation, according to the Georgian Government. These lands, that are under the exclusive control of Russia, offer good opportunities to ‘correct’ any uncomfortable results obtained in the country, where the ruling political party no longer enjoys as much support as it wants to appear.

Photo: wjct.org

Continue Reading

Important

NEPHC declared a Public Health State of Emergency. What does it imply?

Published

on

Reading Time: 2 minutes

After the spike in daily COVID-19 cases in March-April 2021, a decreasing trend was recorded during this summer. Starting September, the number of confirmed cases went up again to 850 cases on September 7, 790 cases on September 8 and 731 cases on September 9. The average number of confirmed cases increased by 17.0% in the last 2 weeks.

Source: msmps.gov.md

As being mentioned on the national vaccination platform, 1 306 726 doses of vaccine have been administered since the start of the vaccination campaign. The national vaccination rate with one dose is 21.96%, while 20.61% of the population is fully vaccinated.

According to the official statistics provided by the Ministry of Health, 70-85% of people who got infected were not vaccinated. Epidemiologists believe this may be the beginning of a new wave, while Government insists on the imperative to vaccinate as many people as possible.

That is one of the main reasons the National Extraordinary Public Health Commission (NEPHC) declared a new public health state of emergency in the country starting September 10. The institution also established new rules for access to public events and public places.

Therefore, starting September 11, persons over the age of 18 can have access to outdoor events, festivals, cinemas performance halls, concerts, as well as nightclubs with one of the following documents: a vaccination certificate proving they are fully vaccinated, a negative result of a RT-PCR test performed no later than 72 hours in advance, a negative result of a rapid antigen test, which is not older than 48 hours, a confirmatory medical conclusion in the case of persons who have undergone COVID-19 in the last 6 months or a confirmatory act of the presence of anti-COVlD-19 antibodies.

As Minister of Health, Ala Nemerenco, claimed, the pandemic “has an ascending character with a tendency of continuous aggravation.” It is not clear though why the restrictive measures did not affect religious institutions and the food service industry yet, which are two strategic sectors when it comes to controlling the spread of the virus.

Photo: Vladimir Fedotov| Unsplash

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Latest News

Society2 years ago

“They are not needy, but they need help”. How Moldovan volunteers try to create a safe environment for the Ukrainian refugees

Reading Time: 3 minutes At the Government’s ground floor, the phones ring constantly, the laptop screens never reach standby. In...

Important2 years ago

#WorldForUkraine – a map that shows the magnitude of the world’s actions against Russian aggression

Reading Time: 2 minutes The international community and volunteers from all over te world have launched #WorldForUkraine as a platform...

Important2 years ago

How is Moldova managing the big influx of Ukrainian refugees? The authorities’ plan, explained 

Reading Time: 3 minutes From 24th to 28th of February, 71 359 Ukrainian citizens entered the territory of Republic of...

Opinion2 years ago

Russia And Ukraine At The Beginning of 2022

Reading Time: 4 minutes This opinion piece was written by Dr. Nicholas Dima. Dr. Dima was formerly a Professor of Geography...

Culture2 years ago

The man raising children on Nistru river

Reading Time: 7 minutes On the Nistru, near the village of Varnița, a few colored pens with blue dots in...

Culture2 years ago

The village of the first astronomer in the Republic of Moldova

Reading Time: 5 minutes From eight in the morning till noon, every Thursday and Sunday, people lay their merchandise on...

Culture2 years ago

The prodigal son returns and turns his grandparents’ home in a tourist attraction on Nistru river

Reading Time: 7 minutes On the road towards the school, a well-maintained rural house catches your eye, yellow stags painted...

Advertisement

Opinions

Advertisement

Trending