PSDM member detained by Transdniestria special forces
The leader of the nongovernmental organization “Dignitas" Ghenadie Taran, member of the Social Democratic Party of Moldova (PSDM), was arrested by the Transdniestrian special forces on August 17. The reason for the arrest and the place where Taran is detained are not known yet.

According to a statement from the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Moldova, a group of armed persons entered Taran’s house at about 16:00 saying they are employees of the criminal police. They arrested Taran and searched the house without presenting any warrant. The documents regarding the activity of the organization he heads have been seized.

Originally posted by taseg

The version in romanian says that the security services of Transnistria are using the blast in Tiraspol as a pretext for harassing the regime's opposition.

Moldova.org: Interior Ministry reveals details of Tiraspol blast

19 August 2006


Deputy Interior Minister Valentin Zubic Friday told a news conference that the author of the explosion aged 49 and his wife were fired from a firm with which they had worked for many years. Therefore, the man wanted to take revenge on his employer. He took three grenades in his bag and got on the trolleybus heading for the headquarters of the firm. Two of the grenades have fallen out of the bag in the transport. The man got out of the trolleybus five minutes before the blast.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Edward Lucas: gotcha (reprised) from European Voice - Disinformation flows along the Dniestr river

August 31, 2006


On 17 September a non-country will be holding a non-vote. The non-country is Transdniestria, a strip of land sandwiched between Moldova and Ukraine. The non-vote is a poll about its future – by some counts the 11th since the Transdniestria authorities declared independence from Moldova proper in 1990. But no credible outsiders will observe it. The outcome is not in doubt.

It is also a non-vote because the question is oddly phrased. Voters are asked to support either the leadership’s current line, of independence leading to ‘association’ with the Russian federation, or to rejoin Moldova. That is not a mandate for real talks about the future, but a rejection of them. It’s the same old dreary story of posturing and deadlock.

What is new, however, is the energetic efforts by the Trandsniestrian authorities to make their case in English, online. When I last visited the Transdniestrian capital, Tiraspol, back in 2001, it was an internet-free zone. Now that’s changed. There’s tiraspoltimes.com (published by an elusive Irishman), pridnestrovie.net, visitpmr.com and transdniestria.com. They are well-written – mostly by native-speakers of English – well-designed, and well-targetted at outsiders whose sympathy with the underdog might lead them to support a self-declared state struggling against the disdain of the international community. What puzzles me, though, is who is behind this.

Annals of Cold War II Part 2: At Ground Zero in Moldova

September 15, 2006


A new American chief has just taken over at the OSCE’s Mission in Moldova, scene of a “frozen conflict” orchestrated by Russia on what has now become the border of NATO and the EU. From 1993 to date, the OSCE has attempted in vain to resolve the Transnistria conflict. It is not just the fact of that failure, but the particular ways and means of that failure that have contributed to discrediting this organization as a security actor.

Led by U.S. diplomat William Hill for a record-breaking period of more than six years until August 2006, the OSCE’s Moldova Mission has accumulated considerable political and conceptual ballast that the new Mission Chief, Louis O’Neill, will have to clean out in order to restore the Mission’s credibility.

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The OSCE will continue to fail unless it recognizes the conflict’s real nature: An inter-state conflict in which Russia has seized a part of Moldova’s territory by military force and installed its political and administrative appointees there. The ongoing “negotiating process” and diplomatic terminology long associated with it are obscuring that reality.

Red Mafiya

Global Politician: Roots of Islamic Terrorism: How Communists Helped Fundamentalists

9/11/2006


a KGB officer, Viktor But (Victor Bout), flew arms to the Taliban until 2001.

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But has 250-300 employees, probably mostly Russians, Ukrainians, and Armenians. According to a Russian newspaper, the Komsomolskaya Pravda, But's main source of arms is Transdnestria, the Moldovan slice of land occupied by Russian army and administered by Soviet-nostalgic communists. (BBC 27.2.2002) This is also where terrorists of the Turkish PKK have found refugee. According to Jane's Intelligence Review, February 2002, "Pakistani smugglers with ties to Ukraine" escorted possibly up to 200 al-Qayda militants to Ukraine. The "Pakistani smuggler" was, however, But's associate, and the destination probably Transdnestria.

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The But affair may have required from Russia more than just diversion in the media. In mid-October 2001, tension between Russian and Abkhazian border was very high, and experts predicted an "anti-terror invasion" of Georgia by Russian forces. This did not happen, however, as suddenly everything cooled down. At the same time, Russia's foreign ministry had protested The Washington Times' report about al-Qayda's arms trade relations to "Russian mafia", asking for exchange of information between security services. (RFE/RL Russian Federation Report 1.10.2001; DN 16.10.2001) When the But affair was discussed in public, in February 2002, Georgia invited US military assistance. This caused a fury in Russia, but unexpectedly, the Kremlin appeared paralyzed to react.