MOSCOW, June 8 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine's plan to settle the Transdniestrian conflict is aimed at the actual isolation of the breakaway region rather than at resolving the problem, argues Mikhail Margelov, Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Federation Council, or Russia's upper house of parliament.
In an interview with a RIA correspondent Thursday, Mr Margelov said the Transdniestrian roadmap drawn up by the Ukrainian government was quite controversial and that even Vladimir Voronin, President of Moldova, the republic Transdniestria used to be part of, had his doubts about its workability. NATO, however, has expressed its support for the Ukrainian plan, he said.
Russia, a co-mediator in the Transdniestrian conflict, has its own idea of how it could be solved. It came out with a solution back in October of 2003, said Mr Margelov. Back then, the Moldovan government welcomed the initiative, but refused to endorse it after consultations with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Russia's proposal is about constitutional rearrangements to transform Transdniestria into an "asymmetric federation." If translated into reality, such a plan would provide for the settlement of all disputable issues in line with the Constitution, making sure than interests of Transdniestria's population are taken into account.
As opposed to Russia's roadmap, Ukraine's seems to overlook the vital interests of Transdniestrian people, our interviewee said. "Given Moscow's influence on the region and the degree to which the Moldovan economy depends on it at the present time, any unilateral settlement attempt in Transdniestria in circumvention of Moscow is doomed," he pointed out in the RIA interview.
The Russian lawmaker believes that the support of the Ukrainian plan by NATO member states is not enough for it to work and that a broader consensus is needed, in keeping with the five-side format of the Transdniestrian settlement negotiations.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko unveiled his government's seven-point settlement plan this past April, while on a visit to the Moldovan capital of Chisinau. The scheme calls for Transdniestria's leadership to create conditions that would boost the development of civil society and of a multiparty political system in that self-proclaimed republic. It also envisages a free and fair election to the republican legislature, to be supervised by observers from the European Union, the OSCE, Russia, Ukraine and the United States. And it provides for the transformation of the peacekeeping force into an international mechanism and for an increase in the number of Ukrainian peacekeepers deployed in the conflict zone.
Also, in accordance with the plan at hand, Ukrainian specialists shall be allowed into Transdniestrian defense facilities for monitoring. Monitoring groups are to be formed within the OSCE and other international organizations as well, for control over the transit of cargoes across the border between Transdniestria and Ukraine.
Ukrainian leaders have made it clear they are willing to support US and EU efforts to settle the Transdniestrian conflict.
