The Day: The Transnistrian Moldovan Republic remains unrecognized in the world. Are you planning any steps to win this recognition in the near future?
I. S.: Let’s see what steps have already been taken. First, we now have a state governed by law, allowing for changes in the political system of the former Soviet Union. I think the ten years of our existence as a republic, despite the economic and banking blockade and the tragedy we sustained, which, in legal terms, was an act of genocide against our people, allows me to say that our state has been asserted. Yet this is not the main thing. A polity can exist if it can provide for all types of security: secure education, food supplies, defense, and the economy (meaning the absence of external debts). We did not demand recognition. The main thing is that our people recognizes our state. At present, we are a self-sufficient body politic. We know that we have the image of a fragment of the former Communist society, precisely because we did not destroy the [Soviet] monuments nor did we rename our streets. We do not fight history. We have profound respect for Taras Shevchenko, Cantemir, and Suvorov, people who made life possible in this land. Among our citizens are Ukrainians, Moldovans, Russians, Jews, Gagauzes, and Bulgarians, but we have never experienced any interethnic confrontations.
We had no alternative but make economic development one of our priorities. Currently, our enterprises operate at 50-80% of their Soviet period level. And this is at a time of constant sabotage by those who regard us as secessionists. Besides, is not the decision of Great Ukraine and Russia to be our guarantors a sign of recognition of our state? Recently, I received the “European trio,” the US, German, and French ambassadors. Was this not another sign of recognition of our country? Look what is happening in the economy. Moldova has received some $2 billion worth of loans. We have received nothing, but we are not leaving any debts to be repaid by our children. Life forced us to rebuild our factories and look for new contacts. We have not closed a single primary school, but have opened a Ukrainian language school in Rybnitsa. We have three official languages: Moldovan, Ukrainian, and Russian. We have dual citizenship. I do not understand how the Transnistrian Republic can be in anyone’s way. They all say that we are separatists, but we never withdrew from the Soviet Union. It just fell apart, so we had every right to form our own republic. Remember how it happened in Ukraine? Now Russia’s big-time politicians say we should do this and that, because that’s how they want it. You have such politicians in Ukraine, they tell you what must be done. Why don’t you ask the Ukrainians and Russians in Transnistria?
So another state took shape? How did we dare? No one asked us when forming the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. Or did anyone ask the Ukrainians? Did they ask anyone at all? The Soviet Communist Party Central Committee in Moscow decided at the time that we had to be united. The Transnistrian Moldovans insist there are no Moldovans in today’s Moldova, just Romanians. Moldovan is not their official language but Romanian. No one bothers to delve into such ethnic subtleties. Or take the economy. How can I live with them if they owe me, my unrecognized state, $30 million? They borrowed money [in the West], saying our people also live in Transnistria, but under Smirnov’s regime, and then forgot to share that money with “their people.”
The Day: Does this mean that Transnistria expects help from Kyiv?
I. S.: I think that Ukraine as a great country can do a great deal without violating international law and other rules. There is the memorandum stating that Transnistria is entitled to economic cooperation. Kyiv will have no problem signing an economic agreement. We have a protocol. Kyiv can also officially recognize Transnistrian documents like statements, references, death certificates, instruments important for transactions involving the transfer of property, and diplomas, with which we use the Russian format. Is it normal for Transnistria residents crossing the border, carrying apples, be stopped and demanded they pay hryvnias? In fact, our situation with Ukraine is quite interesting. There are orchards and dachas belonging to my citizens in Ukraine and vice versa. What I suggest is setting up joint customs points, although I proposed to remove them all. I did not build any checkpoints, did I? Ukrainian armored personnel carriers were stationed back in the 1990s. At the same time, I am very grateful to Ukrainians, especially those in Odesa and Vinnytsia oblasts for accommodating some 90,000 our refugees. We do not want to be at war with anyone, and we shall not. We say a Ukrainian battalion may enter, but first you will sign guarantees, so that your unit will be deployed here for the duration of negotiations, maybe forever, and will not allow any hostilities. How will the international community respond? I try to explain this to everybody, and I want the Ukrainians to know that for me, for our people, the international community means Russia and Ukraine. This is enough.
The Day: But this is not likely to be enough for Ukraine.
I. S.: Maybe not, but it suffices for us. The population of Transnistria is 30% Ukrainians, and there are purely Ukrainian villages. But now Mother Ukraine seems aloof. When did this happen? We do not even ask to be recognized. We don’t bother. After all, we have a memorandum providing for our construction of a common state with Moldova. We have lived on equal terms, relying on our own budget, for the past ten years. During these years we have shouldered the burden of large plants and factories, doing without previous production contacts. We have endured. I am grateful to Leonid Kuchma. But we cannot continue to work like this. Whenever I have problems, I pick up the receiver and talk to Mr. Kuchma. Why must I bother the President? He is an extremely busy man. So we should sign an agreement and make everything legitimate, so every bureaucrat knows that Transnistria is a full-fledged economic entity, entirely independent of Moldova, and that nothing has to be “coordinated” with Moldova. Anyway, this is how the memorandum reads and the document is signed by the Ukrainian President, OSCE representative, Russian President, and current Moldovan President Lucinschi.
We had parliamentary elections on October 10. Russian lawmakers attended as observers. Nobody came from Verkhovna Rada. Why? Is it that maybe your parliament doesn’t care about what happens in or to Transnistria? If so, why not pass a resolution saying so? In that case I would address the Transnistria Ukrainian community: well, people, your Mother Ukraine has just said you can all go to hell.
The Day: What has become of the former Fourteenth Russian Army?
I. S.: I want to make our stand perfectly clear. The property we now have belongs to the people of Transnistria. When we signed the Odesa accords saying we had to part with what we no longer needed, there was a small detail, something the Russians try to ignore these days: the withdrawal had to coincide in time with a political settlement between the Republic of Moldova and the Transnistrian Moldovan Republic. Thus this property is ours by right. We will not give it away free to anybody. We did not bring down the Soviet Union. From the military point of view, this army is of no importance. We are not going to form an army and police forces, the way Moldova does. We always ask ourselves: Why does it? What for? To fight the Romanians? They are supposed to be brothers, aren’t they? To fight the Ukrainians? Ridiculous! Ukraine would just give Moldova a good spanking. So who are they going to fight? Our country. It’s their mentality. Indeed, we are prepared to make reductions [in the armed forces], all the way. Let us sign an agreement. What could Ukraine do? Build a military base here —I’ll sign. And I will convince our Supreme Council, because there are only two big states as our guarantors. But we will never allow any international forces into our country.
The Day: Do you think that the presidential campaigns in Moldova and Romania will have any impact on the Transnistria issue?
I. S.: I have always ardently supported the idea of Lucinschi’s authority. In six years of negotiations, we have signed 48 documents, and these also have President Snegur’s and President Lucinschi’s signatures. Regrettably, unlike us, the Moldovan Parliament refuses to ratify them. I am negotiating not because I want to, but because I was instructed to do so by our supreme legislative body, the Supreme Council. Every document I sign is discussed in parliament. We are in the negotiating process to assert what has been approved by parliament. In other words, there is no use going back on what was discussed and approved. I do hope that when they elect a new president he will have some authority to negotiate. I am not sure about Iliescu, we have no relations with Romania.
The Day: You will have presidential elections next year. Will you run for the third term?
I. S.: For some reason they always think that the current head of state must plan to stay in office for a third term. I have work to do and I am so busy I have no time for any such plans Maybe I will make a decision eventually.
The Day: Are there any steps being taken by Tiraspol to combat smuggling to Ukraine?
I. S.: Judge for yourself. Here is Ukraine on one side and Moldova on the other side. Can you tell me who is doing the smuggling? I produce no cigarettes. We work in close cooperation with Ukrainian customs authorities. We have electronic communications. In thirty minutes we know what shipment is directed where. And we let you know immediately. By the way, there are Moldovan officers at Ukrainian customs stations. In other words, it is like an open book.
The Day: How do you see your republic’s future?
I. S.: I don’t have to see it. It is here. An independent state existing on a contractual basis. I mean the agreements made with Ukraine and Russia. Or as an enclave of Russia and Ukraine, to put it differently. Most importantly, it is a state where the rights of the individual are protected. But discarding the past would make no sense. We take everything which is socially helpful, so our people can live and fulfill themselves in all spheres. Yes, I can see an even happier future; and I see nothing worse.
Igor SMIRNOV, President of the Transnistrian Moldovan Republic, a state not recognized by any other country, insists in an interview with The Daythat, for him, international recognition is not the main thing. He behaves like a real man in charge, stressing this status by repeated use of the first person. He is sure that for his “country” Russia and Ukraine are the only international community it needs. He sees the region as part of that enclave, but does not explain that this would be possible only after reviving the USSR and the likelihood of new conflicts. Mr. Smirnov’s attitude toward the West is anything but friendly and he does not want to see any peacekeeping forces in the region. He seems to find it convenient to harbor an illusion that the Soviet Union is exists.
