Madam Chairperson,

The Delegation of Ukraine warmly welcomes the Head of the OSCE Mission to the Republic of Moldova Dr. Claus Neukirch to the Permanent Council and thanks him for his report.

I would like to thank you, Dr. Neukirch, for the words of condolences over the loss of Ambassador Viktor Kryzhanivsky, the Ukrainian Special Representative on the Transdniestrian Settlement Process. This is a big tragedy and loss for both his family and us, his colleagues and friends.

Ukraine strongly supports the activities of the OSCE Mission to Moldova. It is important that the Mission was able to resume in-person meetings and activities in conditions of ongoing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.  

It is regretful that despite the respective efforts by the Swedish OSCE Chairpersonship, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Ambassador Thomas Mayr-Harting and the OSCE Mission to the Republic of Moldova throughout the year 2021 the negotiation process in the “5+2” format remained stalled and relevant meeting did not take place as it was planned before. We fully support the Mission’s view of the necessity to organize such meeting as soon as possible in 2022. At the same time, it is important, that the result-oriented agenda of this meeting should reflect on core interests of all parties concerned. On the way to reaching tangible progress in conflict resolution process a due attention should be paid to all three baskets of the agreed agenda for the negotiation process including the political settlement issues in the so-called "third basket".

Quite a significant attention in today’s report is paid to the issue of access of vehicles from the Transdniestrian Region of the Republic of Moldova to international road traffic. I think it is obvious, that all necessary conditions were created for private owners of vehicles from the Transdniestrian region of Moldova to comply with relevant requirements. During the previous report by the Head of Mission to the Permanent Council in May we were even informed that the full capacity of the Vehicle Registration Offices in Tiraspol and Ribnitsa were yet to be utilized.

Having taken a decision at the beginning of the year to prolong entrance permission to Ukraine for vehicles with so-called “Transdniestrian number plates” we were repeatedly told on different levels that this step provided sufficient time for Tiraspol to arrange participation of vehicles from this Moldovan region in international traffic.

On a separate note, we are very much interested to know why Tiraspol didn’t use all existing opportunities to solve the commercial passenger and cargo transport registration issue, which is not covered by the 2018 agreement? During yesterday’s informal meeting with Dr. Neukirch he provided a good example of big cargo trucks from the Transdniestrian region of Moldova, that use Moldovan registration number plates for quite a long time already. We are also aware of existing registration options for the ambulances from the Region, provided by Chisinau but not used by Tiraspol. In a view of the above we would be interested to know more details on the Mission’s activities in this regard.

As for the issue of vehicles, which, as it is noted in the report, are “trapped” in Ukraine, we are in close contact with the Republic of Moldova, looking for possible options to solve this problem as soon as possible. But I would like to underline again, that this situation could have been avoided if Tiraspol paid due attention to the issue of vehicles registration in general.

In fact, compliance with relevant Moldovan legislation by Tiraspol is crucial for solving many other important issues on the agenda, namely the implementation of the Protocol Decision on Telecommunication dated 25 November 2017.

It is important that pupils, teachers and staff of the Moldova-administered Latin-script schools in the Transdniestrian region could enjoy freedom of movement across the internal boundary line and we encourage the Mission to continue relevant efforts in this regard.

Madam Chairperson,

I would like to draw attention to the ongoing unacceptable situation in the Transdniestrian region of Moldova with regard to systemic human rights violations, especially those related to freedom of expression. We fully support relevant Mission’s efforts aimed at addressing this problem. At the same time Ukraine would like to once again express its support to previously repeated calls by the Republic of Moldova to prioritize the human rights dimension within wider efforts to solve the conflict.

And finally, the last, but not the least. The OSCE Mission to Moldova should be able to monitor and report on the situation at the munition depot in Cobasna as it is envisaged by its mandate, the scope of which was expanded by the PC Decision №329/99. We call on the Russian Federation to withdraw its forces and munitions from the sovereign territory of the Republic of Moldova as it recommitted to do at the 1999 Istanbul Summit. We strongly believe that withdrawal of the Russian forces and munitions from the Moldovan territory would serve as additional confidence building measure, promoting reinvigoration of the Transdniestrian settlement process.

In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that Ukraine, as a state-guarantor and mediator in the negotiation process, will continue contributing to result-oriented negotiations in the “5+2” format and promoting implementation of practical steps aimed at a peaceful and comprehensive resolution of the Transdniestrian conflict with full respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova within its internationally recognized borders with a special status for Transdniestria within Moldova.

 Thank you, Madam Chairperson