26.03.09

President of Russia met with his colleagues from Moldova and Trans-Dniester region yesterday. Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Voronin, and Igor Smirnov agreed to change the status of peacekeepers in the conflict area. The OSCE will eventually take over. The catch is, it will only happen after the conflict settlement which makes it a major diplomatic victory of Russia.

The communique the three presidents signed reiterated importance of "the permanent conference on political issues within the framework of the Trans-Dniester settlement talks (in the 5+2 format)." To quote Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the involved parties "... confirmed the stabilizing effect the peacekeeping operation has on the situation in the region." They "... recognized expedience of its transformation into am operation guaranteeing peace under the OSCE aegis once the conflict settlement has been accomplished."

Moscow killed two birds with one stone. On the one hand, it recognized importance of the 5+2 format and thus reassured the international community somewhat irritated by the activeness with which Russia has been striving for leadership in the peace process. On the other, it raised Moldova's hopes with the promise that the Russian troops would pull out sooner or later. Also importantly, it assured Smirnov in Tiraspol that he was more or less safe because the Russian contingent would continue performing its duties pending settlement of the conflict. Last but not the least, presidents' signatures on the document give Moscow the leadership the rest of the observers have been so apprehensive of.

Moldovan political scientist Vitaly Andrievsky said Moscow pulled it off by playing its hand just the way it had to be played. "Moscow sent a message to the rest of the world that Russia is ready for cooperation with everyone else but that the influence everyone else can hope to exert is limited," Andrievsky said. "At the same time, no real points of coincidence were found, and that's bad. It should be remembered that the Moldovan authorities do not really care about settlement of the conflict and that they will certainly make use of the Moscow meeting for their own purposes in the forthcoming election."

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Source: RBK Daily