TRANSDNIESTER SUSPENDS COOPERATION WITH OSCE.

Transdniester’s leadership announced yesterday that it has "decided to halt the activity in the region" of the OSCE’s Mission to Moldova. Self-styled state secretary Valery Litskay elaborated that the Mission’s "access to the region is inexpedient" because of its report last month to the OSCE’s Permanent Council and its disavowal of the June 1996 draft memorandum on conflict settlement. Litskay indicated that Transdniester may renew cooperation with the OSCE Mission if the latter accepts that memorandum, and he reaffirmed that Transdniester’s return to the negotiations with Chisinau is conditional on the signing of that document. (Interfax, March 10)

The Mission’s report irked Transdniester by listing some of Tiraspol’s violations of the armistice agreement and by disavowing the Russian-drafted memorandum for failing to stipulate Moldova’s sovereign integrity, in contradiction to OSCE principles. (See Monitor, March 7) The practical implications of a Transdniester refusal to cooperate with the Mission are unclear, and may well include barring the Mission’s access. An earlier agreement, which expired last month, gave the Mission some rights of access to secessionist-controlled territory and some rights to attend and address Armistice Control Commission meetings, subject to a Russian and/or Transdniester veto that the two have sometimes exercised.

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