Moldova's Trans-Dniester region pleads to join Russia

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: BBC

Pro-Russian politicians and activists in Moldova's breakaway Trans-Dniester region have asked the Russian parliament to draft a law that would allow their territory to join Russia.
...
Ethnic Russians dominate Trans-Dniester, with support from Moscow.

The region split from Moldova in a war in 1991-92, as the USSR was collapsing.

Moldova's President Nicolae Timofti said in a news briefing on Tuesday that any decision by Moscow to accept Trans-Dniester "would be a step in the wrong direction".

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26627236

---

In a September 2006 referendum, unrecognised by Moldova and the international community, the region reasserted its demand for independence and also backed a plan eventually to join Russia.

In the post World War II carve-up of the region, Moscow created Moldova's forerunner, the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, from two disparate elements: the mainly Russian-speaking Dniester region, formerly an autonomous part of Ukraine, and the neighbouring region of Bessarabia, which had been part of Romania from 1918-1940.

But in the Soviet Union's dying days, alarm grew in the Dniester region over growing Moldovan nationalism and the possible reunification of Moldova with Romania. A 1989 law which made Moldovan an official language added to the tension, and Trans-Dniester proclaimed its secession in September 1990.
...
The ongoing presence of Russian troops has been a stumbling block in peace talks and the West is concerned about the Soviet-era arsenal in the territory. A pull-out began in 2001 but was halted when Trans-Dniester blocked the dispatch of weapons. Subsequent agreements to resume failed to reach fruition.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18284837

Population: 530,000
Area: 4,000 sq km (1,500 sq miles)

[Ash_F]

1. I didn't realize racial tensions were so severe over there.

Moldova too ...huh.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. this shit could get weird fast.

In post-soviet Russia, sometimes Putin rides the Bear, sometimes the Bear rides Putin.

[davidpdx]

3. Hey good news for Putin

Now he has a reason to annex the entire Ukraine. Then on to Moldovia.......

[jakeXT]

4. McCain is on it...McCain Wants Faster NATO Integration Of Georgia, Moldova

McCain Wants Faster NATO Integration Of Georgia, Moldova

U.S. Senator John McCain has called for the faster integration of Georgia and Moldova into the structures of NATO amid the ongoing crisis in Ukraine's Crimea region.

McCain, a Republican former presidential candidate, told Voice of America that one of the steps by the U.S. Congress in response to Moscow's actions would be to "accelerate the path of Georgia and Moldova into NATO."

http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-moldova-mccain-nato/25294893.html

[Diclotican]

6. jakeXT

jakeXT

I my humble opinion, the worst the west can do - is to put NATO into this game - we are still able to solve most of this diplomatic - if we put soldiers on the ground - we have lost it.... And i doubt Russia would accept that Georgia, Moldova - and the parts of Ukraine who is still not occupied of Russia into NATO anytime soon... This parts of Europe IS Russia's backyard - and I doubt Russia would accept NATO into this area of the world - even if the nations have due rights to request help from NATO..

For Russia it was bad enough when most of east europe was going over to NATO in the 1990s and early 2000s - but to have their own backyard a part of a alliance Russia have no part of - is a cup of tea I doubt Kremlin will accept and would want to stop in its track


Diclotican

[jakeXT]

8. Ironically, by separating Crimea from Ukraine,Russia could make it easier for Ukraine to be accepted

into NATO. Because NATO members aren't allowed to have non-Nato member military on their soil.

[Diclotican]

10. jakeXT

jakeXT

It could do it more easy for Ukraine to get into NATO. On the other side, what then with the great minority in the eastern part of Ukraine - who is more or less russian - and where most of the industry in Ukraine is based too.. Russia can, and will possible do a lot of fuzz about that little trick.. Even if the minority in eastern Ukraine is given all form of formal rights as an minority - russia could easily manipulate it as Ukraine was to treat the minority there with all form of wrongdoing...

But even if Russia got what it wanted - in Ukraine - that be Crimea it would not be enough to let Ukraine into NATO seeing from the russian side of things... Rather the opposite.. Russia do have a fear, going back a few centuries about been encircled - and then attached by an enemy... If you look at the map over Europe - you would understand it better I guess...

Diclotican

[Xolodno]

18. Making them a NATO nation....

...would be like making Mexico a Warsaw Pact nation during the Cold War.

Russia views NATO strictly as an aggression organization....rightly or wrongly. We can all sit here like keyboard cowboys and say just how ridiculous that is..but...

1. Russia traditionally been the victim from aggression from the west (Nazi Germany, Napoleon, etc.).

2. Russia has pulled back from the world stage and imperialist policies for the most part and concentrating on its sphere of influence on economic issues. Certain western nations...not so much.

3. The US has invaded Iraq unprovoked.....The EU and US helped topple Libya....and are either directly and indirectly assisting the civil war in Syria against the Assad Regime....a Russian ally.

4. Even if there was absolutely zero evidence of the west assisting with the overthrow of Yanukoyvich....Nuland's comments of "Fuck the EU" and handing out food to the protesters sure as hell didn't help things from an image point of view. If Mexico were to go pro Russia and a Russian ambassador was caught saying "Fuck the OAS" and was distributing food to protestors in Mexico City...pretty sure everyone would come to the conclusion Russia was involved.

5. Russia may not have to worry about Obama doing anything drastic like moving Ukraine into NATO...but Governments change in the USA every 4 to 8 years. So what if a candidate that says "Russia is the biggest threat to the west" does get elected? To many nations...we probably appear bi-polar.

Of course the naysayers state "you're comparing two different things! Cuz USA good, Russia bad"....whatever. Situation may not be the same...but appearances are often one dimensional.

[another_liberal]

5. This is a tough time diplomatically for the Western decomracies . . .

Either we support a universal application of the right of national self-determination, as enshrined in the United Nations Charter, or we show our selves to be hypochrites by supporting it only when such support is in line with our larger strategic goals.

This choice is not one to be lightly made.

[Diclotican]

7. another_liberal

another_liberal

It is a shoice between one devil - and the other devil....

Diclotican

[another_liberal]

11. Sadly, very true.

I would prefer more consistency on our part in these situations. We would have far greater credibility in diplomatic matters generally if we stuck to hard and fast principles, no matter how much such consistency might discomfort our economic and military interests.

[geek tragedy]

9. why does Russia ban the advocacy of secession of ethnic enclaves from Russia? nt

[another_liberal]

12. Do they do so?

I am not, however, in a position to explain why they ban such efforts, if indeed they do ban them.

[geek tragedy]

13. Putin signed it less than three months ago.

http://themoscownews.com/politics/20131230/192136238/Putin-signs-law-criminalizing-calls-to-separatism.html

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law that would make spreading separatist views a criminal offense punishable by up to five years in jail.

Under the law, submitted to the Russian State Duma by the Communist Party earlier in December, people will face a fine of up to 300,000 rubles ($9,200) for calling for action aimed against Russia’s territorial integrity. It went into effect after Monday's publication in the official Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper.

Lawmakers said the legislation was an effort to curb increasing public support for the idea of relinquishing mainly Muslim territories in the restive North Caucasus.

[Igel]

14. There's de jure.

Then there's de facto.

Ingushetia and Chechnya come to mind?

BTW, both were autonomous republics, with the same status in the USSR as Crimea originally had.

Kto kogo.

[another_liberal]

15. The rebellion in Chechnya was not advocacy of anything . . .

It was armed rebellion. Do you think any Western nation would tolerate an armed rebellion? Which ones, exactly.

[PosterChild]

16. Tolerate an Armed rebellion? Of course not...

... this is almost a tautological proposition. If a state were to "tolerate" an armed rebellion it would almost certainly cease to exist as a state, and the rebels, or whoever gets the upper hand, would would almost certainly be less "tolerant".

An armed rebellion does not spring forth without a cause. If an armed rebellion exists to any effective degree, it was preceded by advocacy and organization in pursuit of some goal or object. I think we have to assume that those who resort to armed rebellion are indeed advocates of some cause and spent some time advocating that cause before pursuing it through militant means.

Therefore it would be correct to assume the armed rebellion in Chechnya to be founded upon the advocacy of independent sovereignty for a people. Indeed, this seems to be more or less the case:

In November 1990, Dzhokhar Dudayev was elected head of the Executive Committee of the unofficial opposition All-National Congress of the Chechen People, which advocated sovereignty for Chechnya as a separate republic within the Soviet Union. In October 1991, he won the presidential election.

Dudayev, in his new position as president of Ichkeria, unilaterally declared the republic's sovereignty and its secession from the Soviet Union and Russia. Not recognized by any government except Georgia under Zviad Gamsakhurdia, the country has maintained an unstable existence, due in part to constant threats of invasions from the Russian Federation.

Chechen Republic of Ichkeria

[another_liberal]

17. That was a national movement with independence as its goal, yes.

However, it chose an armed rebellion as its means of achieving that goal.

[Bosonic]

19. U.S. Pledges Moldovan Border Aid

U.S. Pledges Moldovan Border Aid

Visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland has said that Washington will provide $10 million to Chisinau to help secure the country's borders.

The pledge comes with Moldova eager to burnish its pro-Europe stance amid concerns that Russia may target some of the country's regions, as it did when it occupied and then annexed Ukraine's Crimea.

...

Nuland rejected Russian reports that the Moldovan separatist region of Transdniester is being blockaded either by Ukraine or Moldova, a claim made by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his call with U.S. President Barack Obama on March 28.

"This is not a blockade by any means," Nuland said. "Commerce and trade is continuing to move normally across that border, as are tourists and business people -- of some tens of thousands of people who crossed that border over the last month -- [a] mere 200 [approximately] have been stopped and denied access. This reflects a concern on the Ukrainian side that there have been young people moving across the border carrying weapons, attempting to smuggle, with intentions to stir up trouble, to be provocateurs."

http://www.rferl.org/content/article/25314364.html