Press review: During the war in Ukraine, the 5+2 negotiating format remains frozen, statement
The authorities say the 5+2 negotiating format will remain frozen for the duration of the war in Ukraine, and commentators believe that this format for the Transnistrian settlement is no longer relevant and needs to be changed. Read more in Alla Ceapai's press review.
As long as military action is taking place in Ukraine, the 5+2 negotiating format will be frozen, Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Oleg Serebrian tells Voice of Bessarabia. He points out that at the moment, not only this format is technically blocked, but all the negotiation formats of the frozen conflicts in the Black Sea region. The resolution of the Transnistrian dispute depends very much on developments in Ukraine. Once peace is established in the region and the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine become members of the European Union, the problem will largely resolve itself because Transnistria will not be able to exist as an island, says Oleg Serebrian.
Traditional perceptions of the Transnistrian conflict and methods of its resolution, formed in the run-up to the Russian aggression in Ukraine, are no longer relevant, notes historian and political commentator Anatol Țăranu in an analysis on ipn.md. According to him, Chisinau must prepare for the establishment of a new international format of political settlement in Transnistria, actively contributing diplomatically to its shaping. Taranu says that for the time being there is no detailed agreement on the new international format, but he points out that it will certainly no longer be dominated by Moscow, which is primarily interested in maintaining the current "5+2" negotiating format, which has in fact served as a cause for the conflict freeze.
In the trap of a frozen conflict and with war at the door, this is the title of Simion Ciochina's correspondence for dw.com, in which he describes the life of the village of Cocieri, one of the few on the left bank of the Dniester, which has not been ceded to the separatist regime in Tiraspol. Locals reach the right bank either by crossing the river by ferry or through the customs post of the so-called Transnistrian authorities. In 30 years of isolation, they have already become accustomed to being part of the landscape of a frozen conflict and are ready for an escalation at any time. While the authorities in Chisinau declare European integration as a national priority, citizens continue to have divided opinions on the country's development vector, and not only in Cocieri, but also in the other regions of the country, the article says.
"Villages only with names on the map" is a video report made by Europa Liberă reporters who went to Zgărdești commune in Telenești district, made up of three villages where about 750 people live. In the village of Ciofu there are only three houses left, although 15 families, including Germans and Poles, once lived here. In the village of Bondareuca in the same commune, only a sheepfold and a few abandoned houses remain. In Zgărdești, the population has halved in the last three decades and only a few dozen children attend school and kindergarten. The authorities' proposal to merge small villages, a process called amalgamation, is viewed differently by locals, but seems criticised rather than supported.
National newspaper columnist Nicolae Negru writes about the destruction of the Dnieper hydroelectric dam and the new dimension of the war in Ukraine. Black notes that Putin is not the first to destroy a hydroelectric dam on the Dnieper for military reasons and that he actually imitated his idol Stalin. "Putin is sending a sinister signal to the world, the West first and foremost, that the war 'is just beginning in earnest'... He is trying to substitute the effects of nuclear weapons by unleashing technological catastrophes, demonstrating that 'he is capable of anything'." With the Zaporozhye Atomic Power Plant in his hands, Putin suggests he has no intention of retreating," notes Nicolae Negru, and predicts that the new "dimension" of the Russian-Ukrainian war could escalate.
Still referring to the destroyed Ukrainian dam, Adrian Ciubotaru notes in Gazeta de Chisinau that public opinion in the West still seems to perceive the war in Ukraine as a kind of proxy war, but points out that the reality is different. "The ecocide in the Dnieper riverbed, the humanitarian catastrophe in Eastern Ukraine, the genocide, the time bomb in Zaporijie and so on. erase the "national" boundaries of the conflict. Left to Putin's discretion by a NATO that relies exclusively on Kiev's ability to defend itself, this war will one day affect not only the financially comfortable and overly cautious Western societies. But for this to be understood, some more roadblocks need to be broken. Mental ones, first and foremost," concludes the author.
The editor-in-chief of the newspaper Observatorul de Nord, Victor Cobăsneanu, dedicates his weekly editorial to the European Political Community summit, noting that the ball is in Moldova's court. How we do our homework at home depends on the actual accession deadline. The journalist believes that Moldova will become a fully-fledged member of the EU much sooner than President Maia Sandu's rumoured 2030 deadline. Now it depends very much on how we deliver results, how we cover the advances with real facts. "The time of coquetry with some and with others is no longer passing. The time of smoothing the head and sucking from two cows is over", concludes Victor Cobăsneanu.
Historian and museographer Iurie Cujba writes in the newspaper Unghiul that the main reform, regardless of the field, is to eliminate incompetents from state institutions, from local to central. "In the more than 30 years of the Republic of Moldova, former nomenklatura, party members who came to power, all kinds of crooks and traitors to the nation have been promoted. Mediocrities, sycophants, tricksters, sycophants infiltrated everywhere. It is they who are primarily concerned with mocking meritocracy and competent people," notes the author. According to him, incompetence is the obstacle to achieving any goal.
