Transnistria and Gagauzia

PREMIER CHICU STATES THAT BAN ON TRANSNISTRIAN MOTOR VEHICLES WILL BE LIFTED ON MONDAY

20 january, 2020

Moldovan Prime Minister Ion Chicu has stated that the ban on border crossing by motor vehicles with Transnistrian license plates will be lifted on January 20.

Answering journalists’ questions after the traditional Monday’s working meeting with President Dodon and Parliament Speaker Zinaida Greceanii, the Premier said: “Ukraine announced that from the forthcoming April 1 it would prohibit vehicles with Transnistrian plates to enter the Ukrainian territory. In that connection, we decided to introduce a rule – in a test mode for 10 days starting from January 10 – that only automobiles with agreed-on neutral-design license plates are permitted to leave the Transnistrian region. The test mode period is expiring today. And what will be after April 1 – let’s wait and see”.

Chicu disagreed with the question asked by a journalist concerning “why has Chisinau yielded to Transnistria’s blackmail and made concessions?” The Premier stated: “We don’t accept such terms – concessions, blackmail and the like. And it is just a coincidence that the test mode is expiring today”.

Very shortly after the Prime Minister’s statement, the National Bureau for Country Reintegration announced the suspension of the test mode for crossing the Moldova-Ukraine border by Transnistria-registered motor vehicles.

The Bureau reported: “The information collected by profiled agencies during the 10 days in question will be analyzed from the viewpoint of the demand on trips to Ukraine and on registration of cars with neutral-design plates by Transnistria residents. Subsequent decisions will be taken proceeding from the analysis results”.

Tiraspol perceived the ban slapped by Chisinau as a violation of the Protocol on the mutual recognition of education and other documents issued by the Sides (signed on May 16, 2001), and of the Protocol Decision “On the Participation in the International Road Traffic of Transnistrian Motor Vehicles, not Involved in Commercial Activities”, signed by the Chisinau and Tiraspol Political Representatives on April 24, 2018.

In response to that, Tiraspol announced last Friday that starting from January 24 it is introducing a ban on entering the Transnistrian territory for motor vehicles with Moldovan license plates.

Already on Friday afternoon, President Igor Dodon, who was on a visit to Moscow, contacted Transnistria president Vadim Krasnoselsky by telephone and told him that he had requested profiled Moldovan agencies to urgently analyze the impasse and find a way out of it for the sake of avoiding a real crisis.

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