KIEV, March 14 (RIA Novosti, Pavel Dulman) - Ukrainian railway companies have lost about $1.4 million since new customs procedures were introduced on the border with the breakaway Moldovan region of Transdnestr, the country's transport and communications minister said Tuesday.
Viktor Bondar said about 3,500 railway cars have backed up on the Ukrainian-Moldovan border, with Ukraine's state railways administration having to pay up to $260,000 a day in penalties for broken delivery dates.
The new customs regulations, which require all goods from Transdnestr bound for Ukraine to bear an official Moldovan stamp, have caused protests from Tiraspol and Moscow, both of which regard the measure as an attempt to impose an economic blockade on the ex-Soviet state's separatist region.
