Transdniestria looks to Europe for support

Disappointed that Moscow has said that Transdniestria should be part of a federated Moldova, many Tiraspol politicians are turning to the European Union in hopes that Brussels, given its commitment to regional autonomy and minority rights, will help them achieve the international recognition the Russian government is not ready to extend.

Indications that Transdniestria’s leaders as a result of their disappointment with Moscow’s decision are looking toward the EU have been provided by articles in Nezavisimaya Gazeta and a series of Regnum.ru interviews with Tiraspol leaders.

Tiraspol has been conducting “intensive negotiations” with the European Union, and the EU in turn has been “actively working in the Transdniestrian region,” Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported. The reason for that, Grigoriy Marakutsa, the former head of the Transdniestrian Parliament, said, should be obvious.

“What was left for us to do if Russia in fact left us one on one with Moldova? And what is bad about Transdniestria taking up a course toward integration with the European Union, which has been actively offering us assistance in recent times?” Marakutsa, who currently works for the grouping of unrecognized states, asked rhetorically.

He said that he “would not say that for [Transdniestria] joint work with the EU offers more than that with Russia at present,” but he pointedly underlined that “all states ought to have a multi-vector form of development, “ adding that “Transdniestria is no exception” to that rule of statecraft.

Other officials there were less expansive about contacts with Europe, saying that “the basic vector of development” for Tiraspol will remain Russia for economic, ethnic and cultural reasons, but they said that there was every reason for Transdniestria to exploit the EU’s desire to see “stability and peace on its borders.”

But one Tiraspol political activist, Viktor Orzul of the Military Brotherhood movement suggested that at least some in Transdniestria are so disappointed in Russia now that they will seek tighter cooperation with the European Union, even if that leads them away from Russia’s orbit.
“If the neighbor on your right does not extend the hand of assistance, then one can always find a neighbor on the left who might. That is,” Orzul continued, “Transdniestria must not orient itself only in one direction,” especially if there is a chance that assistance will come from the other direction.

It is unlikely that the EU would ever offer Tiraspol what it wants – admission to its ranks as an independent country – but the very fact that Transdniestrian leaders are expanding their cooperation with Brussels makes them less subject to Moscow’s diktat – and that in turn makes Tiraspol a potentially less useful lever for Russia in its dealings with Chisinau.

Paul Goble is a CIA- and U.S. State Department veteran who has also worked for the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. This excerpt is from a larger article published on his blog, "Window on Eurasia."