Tiraspol, February 14. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. Over the past months, there has been an increase in provocative activity in the Security Zone. This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the PMR Vitaly Ignatiev in an interview with the First Pridnestrovian TV Channel.
“Thanks to the peacekeeping operation, the situation in the Security Zone is, fortunately, stable and controlled, Vitaly Ignatiev said. - Yet over the past months, we can see increased provocative activity, the activities of unidentified representatives, as we suspect, of law enforcement agencies of the West and the Republic of Moldova, who are engaged in manipulations in the Security Zone outside the mandate. While the Peacekeeping Forces are there to prevent any unidentified structures or forces` appearance there, including the military ones. Therefore, the situation is quite worrying.”
Vitaly Ignatiev separately focused on the OSCE appeal circulated in the JCC with a proposal to notify the mission of ongoing exercises and activities of the Peacekeeping Forces` units. According to Vitaly Ignatiev, the proposal is counterproductive, since no one has the right to replace the Joint Control Commission:
“Only the Joint Control Commission has a full mandate to monitor the situation in the Security Zone. And not only a mandate, but tools to ensure peace. No one can substitute the work of the Joint Control Commission with their functionality. All these attempts are counterproductive. We are in a separate dialogue with the OSCE. Since the JCC sphere is not part of the political representatives` activities, no matter how much Chisinau would like to pool the mechanism, I apologize for saying so, but that is the way it is. We see elements of blocking, insinuations, and scandals... The peacekeeping mechanism must work clearly by the statutory documents, without failures. The most important task is to ensure uninterrupted and full implementation of the Joint Control Commission mechanism.”
Recall that the peacekeeping operation in Pridnestrovie is carried out based on the Agreement on the Principles of the Peaceful Settlement of the Armed Conflict, signed in Moscow on July 21, 1992. Control over the situation in the Security Zone is carried out by the Joint Peacekeeping Forces, consisting of the military contingents of Russia, Pridnestrovie, and Moldova, as well as a group of military observers from Ukraine. The peacekeeping operation is managed by the Joint Control Commission. By the existing agreements, the OSCE mission should assist the JCC in achieving the peacekeeping operation goals.
