President of the unrecognized Transnistrian Moldovan republic (PMR) Yevgeny Shevchuk believed that the region de jure and de facto is obliged to repay debts for Russian natural gas [around US$5 billion], but this will not be possible within the coming 10-20 years.

In an interview to Kommersant-Vlast [power] newspaper of Moscow, the Tiraspol leader said that unlike the financial assistance from Russia, the natural gas is not donated to Transnistria, but a certain debt is being formed.

He expressed confidence that if unblocking the Transnistrian economy, within 3-5 years it may come to the self-sufficiency level at little investment.

According to Shevchuk, for this the banking system should be unblocked, as well as the foreign trade activity and transport infrastructure.

“Freedom of external trade should predetermine the possibility of free trade with Russia and the Customs Union, with Ukraine and Western countries, if, of course, our products correspond to all the requirements for being sold on these markets”, he said.

Shevchuk regards the attempt to draw analogies between Transnistria and Donetsk as a desire of certain political circles in Ukraine to involve the PMR in this conflict.

“We have repeatedly stated that we are not going to battle with anyone. We are ready for good neighborly relations, for constructive cooperation and we hope that our partners in Ukraine, at least those who take decisions, understand the full depth of responsibility for the situation and we call Ukrainian authorities to withdraw armed forces from our borders and not to escalate the situation. Transnistria, in its turn, does not concentrate any forces on the border despite the complexity of the evolving situation”, he said.