RUSSIAN PARLIAMENTARIAN SKEPTICAL ABOUT UKRAINIAN CORRIDOR FOR RUSSIAN TROOPS AND ABOUT MOLDOVAN GOVERNMENT’S FEELINGS ABOUT RUSSIA

If Ukraine really opens a corridor via its territory for removing Russian troops from Transnistria, such corridor can be used for movement in the opposite direction, too, – in order to replenish the peacekeeping contingent in Transnistria, MP Konstantin Zatulin, the First Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma [parliament] Standing Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Ties with Compatriots, and Director of the Institute for CIS Countries, stated to the press commenting the Thursday’s sayings by Moldovan Prime Minister Pavel Filip concerning his preparedness to agree with Kiev upon opening a corridor for removing Russian troops from Moldova.

Konstantin Zatulin stated also that “the Government of Moldova – together with its Premier, who was previously perceived by Russia as a realistic and sober-minded politician fit for serious negotiations – has lately been drifting steadily in a Russo-phobic direction”. In the opinion of the lawmaker and expert on the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) problems, this trend has been conditioned not only by the aggravating confrontation between the pro-Western Government of Moldova and pro-Russia President Dodon, but also by external circumstances.

“The unusual brevity, which the Moldovan Government has acquired lately, has been due to the anti-Russia hysteria unleashed in the West and due to the pressing the republic is experiencing from behalf of American and European politicians”, said Konstantin Zatulin.

He remarked also that being neither EU nor NATO member country, Moldova nonetheless expelled Russian diplomats from Chisinau in solidarity with Great Britain due to the Skripal case. He believes that the statement about a possible agreement with Ukraine concerning a corridor for Russian troop withdrawal “is a phenomenon of the same order”.

As was already reported by Infotag, on Thursday Premier Filip took floor at the international Kiev Security Conference and reiterated, inter alia that Moldova consistently stands for an unconditional withdrawal of the Russian troops and for transforming the current [since 1992] military peacekeeping operation on the Dniester into a multinational civilian mission under an international mandate.

According to him, at the recent Munich Security Conference (MSC), Russian representatives explained to the Moldovan delegation that Moscow cannot pull out its arsenals from Transnistria [some 20 thousand tons of armaments and ammunition] due to the unstable situation in Ukraine and the known complicated relations with the Kiev leadership.

“But we are convinced that Moscow has enough possibilities to persuade the Ukrainian Government. We have no doubt that in case of need the Ukrainian partners will provide a corridor for removing the Russian troops with their arms and ammunition that is still remaining in Transnistria. From its part, Moldova will back Ukraine in its efforts to overcome the crises in Donbass and in the Crimea to thus resolve the problems by using political and diplomatic means, as well as to restore the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine”, stated Pavel Filip.