The largest company in Transdniestria has warned that it will not survive five more years under the current economic blockade. MMZ Steel Works in Rybnitsa is suffering under moves by Moldova to isolate the unrecognized country and starve it of income. Blockade conditions started in 2003 according to Stratfor, a US-based private intelligence firm.

By Karen Ryan, 14/Jun/2007

MMZ, a private company and the largest in Transdniester, says it can not survive five years under the current economic blockade

RYBNITSA, June 14, 2007 – Forced to send shipments an extra 500 km for a customs stamp, the MMZ Steel Works - located in the Transdniestria city of Rybnitsa - has shown no profit for two years, according to a report by Executive Intelligence Review (EIR) which will be published Friday.

Plant director Andrei Yudin told EIR that it will not survive five years under these conditions, despite having advanced technology. Under normal conditions the company accounts for more than half of Transdniestria's industrial output.

The economic woes are caused by a well-coordinated strategy of economic warfare by Moldova, which has steadily increased in pressure since the year 2003.

Stratfor, a private intelligence organization based in the United States, wrote in its most recent analysis of Transdniestria that: "Since 2003, the small enclave has been subject to economic measures from Moldova that have amounted to a blockade."

Two years earlier, in 2001, Moldova made the first move towards an economic isolation of Transdniestria when new customs stamps were imposed. The unannounced move prevented a free and open market in goods and services, violating a 1997 agreement between Moldova and Transdniestria which had guaranteed the latter a right to free foreign trade. Under the provisions of this deal, Moldova had originally given Transdniestria customs stamps which allowed it to engage in a legitimate export trade in accordance with the terms of the bilateral agreement.

Christine Bierre, French editor and analyst, photographed during her most recent research tour of Tiraspol

Blockade conditions began in 2003

According to Stratfor, the economic blockade began in 2003 when new border-crossing regulations for Transdniestrian companies were first tried by the Moldovan authorities.

These were stepped up starting on 3 March 2006 when the border was closed for all legitimate exports unless they had first been cleared by central authorities in Chisinau. As part of the EU's and its own sparring with Moscow, the Victor Yushchenko regime in Ukraine, citing EU requirements, mandated that all cargoes moving from Transdniestria into Ukraine have an official Moldovan customs stamp, allegedly to curb smuggling.

Since Transdniestria has operated independently of Moldova's central government since 1990, such stamps were not forthcoming.

“- All this produces only suffering for the beleaguered populations of this area," says EIR's Christine Bierre who recently visited the unrecognized Transdniestrian Republic with a delegation of the French organization Reseau Voltaire. Bierre, editor of Nouvelle Solidarite in France, spoke to government authorities and ordinary Transdniestrians about their wish for independence and their willingness to endure sacrifices and hardships to reach this goal.

Restrictions on imports begin on 1 July 2007

When the intensified March 2006 clampdown started, the authorities in Transdniestria warned of a "humanitarian catastrophe." During the first half of 2006, the Central Bank reported that exports from unrecognized country fell by 49% and imports by 15.9%. Russia, terming the Ukrainian policy an "economic blockade," sent humanitarian relief.

Many ethnic Ukrainians from Transdniestria complain about the anti-PMR and, indirectly, anti-Ukrainian policy of Kiev. Until the mid-20th Century, Transdniestria was part of Ukraine.

Transdniestria has a population of more than half a million people. Approximately two thirds of them are ethnic Slavs, which Ukrainians making up the largest group among Slavs.

A new deadline for Transdniestria comes on July 1, when its imports will also be forced to clear Moldovan customs, provoking even deeper economic trouble. In the case of other unrecognized countries around the world such a move is unheard of, says a local activist.

“- In China, there is no central clearance of Taiwan's imports via the Chinese government," explains civil rights organizer Petru Gladchi. "And in Cyprus, the government does not restrict imports for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. What about Somalia? Somaliland has the right to freely import what it wants, and its imports are not subject to clearance first by Somalia in the south. There are many more examples from around the world. What Moldova is doing to us is a blockade, and there is no other way to put it. If this was happening to Taiwan, the rest of the world would be outraged and would strongly criticize China." (With information from EIR, Stratfor)

Source: Tiraspol Times

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