During the meeting of the Joint Control Commission for the Transnistrian Security Zone on October 3, 2019, the head of the delegation of the Russian Federation, Ilia Uvarov, came with additional arguments about the importance of checking and analyzing the situation in the demilitarized zone following the Transnistrian side’s decision to introduce illegal border guards posts on May 1, 2019. 

The Joint Control Commission was established after the 1992 Transnistrian War as a trilateral peacekeeping force and military command structure. It is made up of three parties: Moldova, Russia and the Transnistrian Region (an unrecognized breakaway territory belonging to Moldova). The Commission is responsible for ensuring the ceasefire and security arrangements in the region where it operates, which is known as the Nistru River Valley Security Zone. 

In May, the unrecognized Transnistrian authorities introduced illegal “border guard” structures in the Security Zone, assigning them powers of control over the persons and means of transport entering or leaving the region. 

These abusive actions represent an attempt to establish a border in the Security Zone and a serious breach of the Moldovan-Russian Agreement of July 21, 1992, which outlined the principles for peaceful settlement of the armed conflict in the Transnistrian region of Moldova, as well as the mechanisms for decision making at the level of the Joint Control Commission.

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Moldova’s delegation as well as the representatives of the OSCE Mission and Ukraine, support the initiative of the Russian Federation delegation. But the Transnistrian delegation still refuses to accept it, creating a bottleneck in the Commission’s work.

In the absence of a consensus, the Commission has been carrying out its work without this subject on the agenda.

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On September 12, 2019, the Russian Federation delegation to the Joint Control Commission submitted a compromise proposal for examining the situation in the Transnistrian Security Zone resulting from the installation of illegal border posts. This marked the fourth consecutive month in a row the proposal was submitted, with the support of the representatives of Moldova, Ukraine and the OSCE Mission to Moldova. However, the Transnistrian delegation rejected the idea once again. 

• Transnistrian Delegation Rejects Compromise Proposal For Security Zone Border Posts