MOLDOVAN JCC DELEGATION NAMES OGRV EXERCISES “PROVOCATIVE AND DEFIANT”

The Moldovan delegation to the Joint Control Commission (JCC, the supervisory body for the Joint Peacekeeping Forces, JPF) has named as “provocative and defiant” the field exercises held recently in the Transnistria Security Zone by the Operative Group of Russian Troops (OGRV) deployed in the Transnistrian region.

Moldova’s National Bureau for Country Reintegration wrote in a press release that on August 14, on the left (eastern) Dniester River side, concentrations of armored vehicles and army trucks without license plates were noticed near the village of Ternovca (Slobozia Raion) and near the pedestrian bridge across the Dniester River in Tiraspol city.

“According to eye-witnesses, one could hear a roar of motors of armored vehicles, which then began entering into the Dniester River”, said the press release.

“The military command of Moldova’s peacekeeping forces and representatives of the OSCE Mission to Moldova tried to check that information. They arrived to the indicated locality, but were halted by unknown servicemen who said they were an OGRV patrol, and did not let the visitors check the information”, said the press release.

The Moldovan JCC delegation expressed its “extreme concern and bewilderment about the unsanctioned unfolding of military exercises near the Dniester that may only cause tension in the Security Zone”.

“These actions by the Russian troops, like other analogous precedents, as well as the manner of interpretation of these actions, are qualified by the Moldovan side as provocative and defiant. They violate the current mechanism of ensuring the regime in the Security Zone and of the fundamental principles of peacekeepers’ activities. A JCC component may not execute its commitments by ignoring the main documents and regulations of the Joint Control Commission”, said the document.