Transnistria will not receive the €60 million in financial support offered by the European Union, which was intended to help the region cope with the energy crisis. This was announced on February 10 by Prime Minister Dorin Recean, reports NewsMaker who clarified that Tiraspol rejected the money due to the conditions attached particularly the requirement to gradually raise tariffs to market levels Recean believes that Russia is preventing the region from accepting EU assistance The Prime Minister wrote on social media that the €60 million from the EU was meant to help Transnistria "free itself from blackmail and address energy instability." Russia does not allow them to accept European aid for fear of losing control over the region The main condition Tiraspol rejected was the gradual increase of consumer tariffs This means that the people of Transnistria will continue to live in uncertainty and worry about gas supplies," he emphasized Recean assured that Chișinău would not leave the Left Bank in distress and would not block gas supplies gas will be supplied to Transnistria by the Hungarian company MET Gas and Energy Marketing AG which will receive money from the Dubai-based company JNX General Trading "Both companies have passed an audit and will supply gas to the Moldovan border in accordance with the contract with Moldovagaz," he added and Tiraspol will have to take measures to demonstrate openness—release political prisoners keep the Moldovan public TV channel Moldova 1 in the broadcasting network and dismantle the checkpoints established in 2022," the Prime Minister stated adding that the Emergency Commission would meet on February 10 to discuss the details "It is important to understand that this is not an agreement between the government of Moldova and Russia; it is a decision to help the people on the Left Bank not freeze We will continue to make rational and responsible decisions to maintain peace and mutual understanding throughout the country," Recean concluded gas to Transnistria will be supplied by the Hungarian company MET Gas and Energy Marketing AG Tiraspol is obligated to "take steps demonstrating openness." Recean explained that the Hungarian company will deliver gas to the Moldova border The transit will be paid for by NX General Trading L.L.C MET Gas and Energy Marketing AG is a natural gas trader on the European market No violations of national or international laws were found regarding JNX General Trading L.L.C no Moldovan citizens were identified among the owners of these companies," the Prime Minister listed Tiraspol will prepay for the gas transit costs from the Moldovan border to the region based on an agreement between Moldovagaz and Tiraspoltransgaz and Tiraspol will take the following steps — release political prisoners keep Moldovan public television in its broadcasting network and dismantle the checkpoints set up in 2022," concluded Recean This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Forty psychologists and social workers from NGOs and shelters specialized in counselling victims of domestic violence participated in two OSCE-supported workshops in Tiraspol from 3 to 5 June and in Ribnita from 6 to 8 June 2019 They learned about best practices in assisting women in managing trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder Slightly more than three-quarters of women in Moldova think that violence against women is very common in the country says the recent OSCE-led Survey on Well Being and Safety of Women which covers seven OSCE participating States Prevention and combating domestic violence is also among the issues discussed at Human Rights and Social Protection Working Groups within the Transdniestrian settlement process which brought together a mixed group of professionals from the left-bank cities as well as the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia the trainer organized role plays and offered individual coaching sessions on supervising victims of domestic violence during the recovery stage techniques of exercising self-control and avoiding dependant relationships The participants also discussed ways to overcome professional burnout.  “The trainer built a rapport with us and was sensitive to our learning needs She taught us how to understand and share one another’s feelings which is a very important technique in working with our beneficiaries,” said Olga Purakhina the Director of the NGO Vialex in Ribnita and a co-organizer of the workshop the Mission has trained around 110 shelter staff from both banks namely psychologists and social assistants from Chisinau Participants in the workshops demonstrated a high interest in continuing to share experiences and maintain dialogue on how to fight this phenomenon which prompted the Mission to organize more training opportunities The activity is in line with the 2004 OSCE Action Plan for promoting gender equality which states that the “OSCE structures will continue to assist participating States in developing programmes and activities aimed at the prevention of all forms of gender-based violence” Putin and Lukashenko speak on Union State ties and united historical memory at Volgograd forum Russia proposes joint aviation venture with Belarus as part of expanded industrial cooperation Russian and Belarusian agents accused of plotting attacks on exiled Belarusians in Lithuania Belarus now ‘untouchable’ under Russia’s nuclear umbrella COMMENT: Is Russia’s economy headed for hard or soft landing BLOG: The EU’s glacial push to eliminate Russian LNG Post-war order teetering – rights watchdog Tensions flare in Azerbaijan–Russia ties despite Patriarch’s visit but playing second fiddle to the Northern Route Think-tank urges EU to consider 'Big Bang' enlargement and sweeping reforms EU swaps China for Russia 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a ‘clear signal of trust South Korea’s PPP narrows presidential field to two finalists China accuses US of sophisticated cyberattacks Thailand's Maha Songkran World Water Festival draws over 558,000 visitors Magnit acquires controlling stake in Azbuka Vkusa German Prosecutors Confirm Termination of Money Laundering Investigation Against Alisher Usmanov Comments by President of the Russian Fertilizers Producers Association Andrey Guryev on bilateral meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin PhosAgro/UNESCO/IUPAC green chemistry research grants awarded for the 8th time to world's best young scientists Download the pdf version Download the pdf version Download the pdf version Download the pdf version After the European Union adopted new regulations for exports of waste shipments European companies froze deliveries of raw material to the Ribnita (also known as Rybnitsa or Rabnita) steel plant in the Moldovan separatist republic of Transnistria Attempts by the Moldovan government to make imports of raw material for the Ribnita plant one of the country’s biggest industrial enterprises possible received criticism from human rights organisations which pointed to the final beneficiary of the government’s actions: a rebel region that fails to protect human rights.  Even before the new regulations came into force in November 2021 production at the Ribnita steel plant was well below capacity It produced 500,000 tonnes of raw steel and roughly the same amount of rolled goods in 2018 and only 392,000 tonnes of raw steel in 2019 The plant in Ribnita imports about 70% of the raw material (scrap metal) it uses from EU countries The business model of the company includes the use of cheap natural gas from Gazprom for which the company pays a price to the separatist authorities in Tiraspol and not to Gazprom or local gas companies Tiraspoltransgaz or Moldovagaz the plant imported 42,000 tonnes of scrap metal from EU member Romania and in October another 44,000 tonnes of scrap metal This will keep the factory operating for some time they could result in its bankruptcy.  Under the revised Waste Shipment Regulation the European Commission stipulates that exports of waste to non-Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries will only be authorised if the destination countries wish to receive certain waste and have the necessary capacity to manage it sustainably All EU companies exporting waste outside the EU should ensure that the facilities receiving their waste are independently audited to demonstrate that they manage their waste in an environmentally sound manner.  the plant will only be able to import scrap metal if Moldova demonstrates that it complies with EU environmental regulations in this regard.  This gives rise to a difficult situation for the plant in Ribnita which is in a part of the country not under the control of the central government and has not been issued an environmental permit by the authorities in Chisinau.  stated that the government has already asked the European Commission to allow exports of waste to Moldova assuming that all EU requirements will be met The Moldovan government’s efforts to resolve the issue need some explaining Officials appear to have initially misunderstood the regulations related to waste exports from the EU President Maia Sandu mentioned Moldova being on a “black list” drafted by the European Union and concluded that there must be some mistake or that the “black list” had not been updated in line with the new regime in Chisinau Sandu apparently feared that the country’s position on the list could lead to it being shunned by foreign investors Gavrilita explained the decision to request the resumption of metal imports from the EU by saying it would be in the national interest to protect the market In response to the criticism of its support for one of the largest Transnistrian companies Moldova’s government explained that while Ribinta is currently the only company in the country that needs scrap metal there is another investor interested in building a steel plant in Moldova as well.  it is expected that Omni Steel will build a mini steel plant in the village of Panasesti with an annual production capacity of 100,000-150,000 tonnes of concrete steel the company has already said it plans to purchase raw material from within the country (given its smaller capacity compared to the Ribnita plant) It is also relevant that in March Moldova will negotiate the yearly contract for electricity supplies with Transnistria’s power plant Cuciurgan (owned by Russian Inter RAO) which account for 75% of Moldova’s consumption.  the country needs to demonstrate the capacity to manage them sustainably and to carry out an independent audit of the waste disposal company the Moldovan authorities never had access to the enterprise in Rabnita in order to know what is happening there Moldova’s Minister of Environment Iuliana Cantaragiu invited Ribnita steel plant to provide the necessary documentation to demonstrate its capacity to handle metal waste from the European Union properly The plant has since applied for the permit But allowing Moldovan central authorities to inspect the plant would be something new for the separatist regime in Transnistria which for three decades has asserted its independence from Chisinau Check the box to receive the e-magazine to your inbox every month for free Get notified when there's a new bne IntelliNews Podcasts added You don't have permissions to access this page Transdniestrians celebrated the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II—also known as the “great patriotic war”—and 25 years of independence from Moldova One photographer recently took a closer look Snaking down the border between Moldova and Ukraine is a landlocked sliver of terrain called Transdniestria It’s home to more than half a million people and run by an independent government But Transdniestria—sometimes spelled Transnistria—is not recognized by the United Nations Officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic (PMR) Transdniestria is technically part of Moldova says Eastern Europe scholar Dennis Deletant “the separatist statelet has had de facto independence since the Moldovan civil war in 1992,” which pitted Moldovans against Transdniestrians Transdniestria is sometimes referred to as a “frozen conflict” because while fighting ceased in the area 25 years ago no formal peace treaty has ever been drawn Today the perimeter of Transdniestria is patrolled by “about 1,200 Russian peacekeepers,” says Deletant calling themselves “Transdniestrians,” many pledge allegiance to Russia rather than Moldova This national identity crisis was what compelled Belgian photographer Thomas Vanden Driessche to travel to Transdniestria and document life there Vanden Driessche spent two weeks driving around the region with a fixer who spoke Russian one of the territory's main languages (along with Romanian and Ukrainian) is a Transdniestrian actress who has belonged to a Tiraspol theater troupe for more than a decade near the anniversary of the end of World War II the troupe performs a play dedicated to the glory of Soviet soldiers Transdniestria is not recognized by any country in the world so a Transdniestrian passport is not valid most people are entitled to either a Moldovan waiting to see if "the wind will blow West or East," says Vanden Driessche At an equestrian center on the outskirts of Tiraspol the son of the owner prepares for a jumping competition people were comfortable with him taking their portraits But when he was out on the street with his camera something struck him about the way people reacted Instead of being either overly friendly or confrontational—the two extremes he typically encounters—Vanden Driessche was met with an unfamiliar indifference actors perform in a patriotic play that pays tribute to the Soviet soldiers who died during World War II You can see more of Vanden Driessche's work on his website. Or on Instagram. “We Sing the Praises of Transdniestria.”"},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"inline-1","cntnt":{"aspectRatio":"4x3","cmsType":"photogallery","id":"inline-1","media":[{"caption":{"credit":"Photograph by Thomas Vanden Driessche Institute","text":"The “culture house” is a relic of the Soviet era that lives on in the villages of Transdniestria has been cleaned in preparation for a dancing event to celebrate the end of World War II The “culture house” is a relic of the Soviet era that lives on in the villages of Transdniestria Nadesha Bondarenco—editor in chief of Bravo the newspaper of the Transdniestrian Communist Party—stands amid flags and a bust of Lenin The CP has just one seat in the parliament Bondarenco says that although Transdniestria is a capitalist society a statue of Vladimir Lenin stands in front of the parliament building As Transdniestrians celebrate Victory Day with a military parade—complete with Soviet-era tank—Russian flags line the streets of Tiraspol works out every day at this Soviet-era gym in Cionurciu military guards of the president (Vadim Krasnoselsky elected last year) take a break at the end of the Victory Day celebration The Bender Independence War Museum commemorates the war with Moldova The most violent clashes took place in Bender Along the highway that links Tiraspol to the industrial city of Ribnita a monument commemorates the Second World War just a few hundred meters from a power station in Dubassari waiting to see if \"the wind will blow West or East,\" says Vanden Driessche From 18 to 20 October 2017 the OSCE Mission to Moldova together with the Ribnita-based NGO Vialex organized a training workshop for a group of 20 psychologists social workers and shelter staff who work with survivors of domestic violence The trainees belong to several NGOs that seek to provide comprehensive assistance to beneficiaries residing in Tiraspol Ribnita and neighbouring localities on the left bank Training sessions focused on identifying causes of family conflicts the difference between functional and non-functional family dynamics and coaching techniques for families affected by violence a psychologist who has aided women and children in domestic violence situations employed roleplays and educational exercises to demonstrate new counselling methods specifically designed to address trauma and post-traumatic stress “This training is unique as it offers us the possibility to learn new counselling methods  and exchange best practices with our peers in the region,” says Olga Purakhina This capacity-building effort is a continuation of workshops held in 2015 and 2016 when the Mission trained about 90 psychologists social assistants and other members of district multi-disciplinary teams from both banks Having received positive feedback from participants and further requests from other maternal centres and shelters the Mission supported this training to enlarge the pool of specialized domestic violence counsellors.  has contributed to escaping from Ukrainian sanctions to one of the largest corporate tax-payers in the unrecognized Transnistrian republic – the Moldovan Metallurgic Plant RISE Moldova and СХЕМИ have obtained a copy of a letter in which the head of the Moldovan executive branch not only begs the Ukrainian government for exempting the enterprise from sanctions but also for ceasing Kiev’s formal investigations against its management Ukrainian exporters of scrap metals were able to cheat the sanctions on the Transnistrian plant thanks to Moldovan intermediary firms The fiscal and customs authorities explain that “Transnistrian businesses are exempt from any obligations towards the [Moldovan] budget.” MMP is among the three largest corporate tax-payers in the breakaway enclave Available financial reports for the first to third quarters of 2018 show that MMP wired to region’s public wallet as much as 115 million Transnistrian rubles Only Sheriff Holding earns more than MMP in Transnistria; by the way that’s why the enclave is dubbed as “The Sheriff Republic.” MMP used to earn as much as the entire public revenue of Transnistria //Photo: president.gospmr.org confirm that in 2015 alone MMP posted more than $13 million in losses and in 2016 the loss doubled to $28 million already in 2017 the plant reported almost $13 million in profit thanks to subsidized Russian gases and a three-fold growth of sales That year MMP posted pre-tax revenue of $217 million, which compares to the annual public revenue of the entire Transnistrian republic – $234 million An earlier RISE Moldova report demonstrated that in 2014 through the first half of 2017 Roshen a chocolate concern owned by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko sold goods worth around $3 million to Sheriff The latter should be rightly referred to as the principal beneficiary of Transnistria’s existence President Petro Poroshenko issues a decree The list of enterprises under Ukrainian sanctions includes Ribnita-based plant too The enterprise falls into a restrictive regime for a period of three years on inclusion of MMP in the sanctions list for three years The sanctions contain five items: blocking assets; limiting trade operations; prohibiting capital withdrawal from Ukraine; suspending the economic and financial liabilities; denying participation in public acquisitions The reason for this move was not explained MMP is the solely enterprise from Moldovan jurisdiction that got into Ukraine’s black list mainly Russian capital ventures; for example Pervyi Kanal (First Channel of Russia) television or the Sukhoi fighter jet design bureau Thanks to the team’s access to official customs reports about the export of scrap metals from Ukraine to MMP we first analyzed the information about the business partnerships of the Ribnita plant over the past five years Since 2014 – alias from the time Ukraine waged its anti-terror operation in the east – most Ukrainian scrap metals suppliers resided in Donetsk and Lughansk cities which at that time had already been under the control of pro-Russia separatists Sources in Ukrainian police say that that in autumn 2018 the main scrap metals exporters were a number of companies affiliated to UkrMet Market competitors have linked this group of companies with Andrey Kisselyov currently a parliament member and in the past a Regions Party supporter of former president Viktor Yanukovich Kisselyov has said he is not currently running any of the envisaged companies but admitted that he is offering them consultancy that trade with Transnistria had been suspended during the sanctions… //Photo: СХЕМИ assures that since the sanctions got enforced the company has shipped scrap metals to Moldova omitting the fact that it was the solely metal works enterprise in Moldova Novastal Prim in turn has been an interesting subject for our reporters since autumn 2018 On the background of Ukrainian sanctions on MMP between September till December last year this firm was the largest recipient of Ukrainian scrap metals in Moldova Our journalists visited the office building in Chisinau where the company was renting storage space but not one pound of scrap metals could be detected there – not to mention piles of this materials they noticed that the four-storey building in Botanica District hosted a branch office of the Moldovan Democratic Party which is run by oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc What a coincidence – the Ukraine scrap metal importer is an office neighbor to a Democratic Party branch Ukrainian customs reports show that Novastal Prim imported scrap metals from Ukraine by railroad via the Transnistrian area of the Ukrainian-Moldovan border During four months of 2018 the Chisinau-based firm received more than nine tons of scrap metals worth $2.7 million from Ukraine 2018 it falls under the control of a 33-year-old resident of Chisinau – and citizen of the unrecognized Transnistrian republic – Piotr Tanasevschi who takes over as both owner and executive director In December he sells the firm to Andrei Sevciuc Our attempts to have a conversation by phone with Piotr Tanasevschi have been unsuccessful The current owner Andrei Sevciuc didn’t deny that his firm has established trade relations with MMP However he could not explain why Novastal Prim has been added in Ukraine’s black list noting that he “isn’t the government of Ukraine.” DV.load("https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5982678-Raspuns-SBU-Novastal.js" container: "#DV-viewer-5982678-Raspuns-SBU-Novastal" }); Timbrovschi is a known person – he runs the state-owned scrap metals collecting enterprise Metalferos It is also one of the biggest suppliers of raw materials for MMP DV.load("https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5982469-Scrisoare-Pavel-Filip-Catre-Petro-Porosenco.js" container: "#DV-viewer-5982469-Scrisoare-Pavel-Filip-Catre-Petro-Porosenco" }); The reason why this letter was necessary is “the critical state of the metallurgic plant in the city of Ribnita the largest steel manufacturer in Moldova.” After a two-page long text with technical details of the “critical state” Filip is asking the two top statesmen in the end: Shevchuk: It could be more expensive without Chisinau Taking questions from journalists who came with the initiative to lift the embargo from the Transnistrian enterprise Ukrainian officials kicked those questions – and the responsibility – among them The SNBO said the decision to get MMP out of sanctions on based on the SBU’s recommendation The latter in turn finger pointed to the Presidential Administration of Ukraine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJQ7t-1rOWg According to Transnistria’s ex-president Yevgeny Shevchuk the decision to lift the sanctions is rooted in the fact that “MMP is the second largest currency earner [in Transnistria] and 80% of its currency earnings is purchased by Agroprombank [which is part of the Sheriff Group].” Therefore the trade and currency operations represent “a motivation of something bigger.” Being asked whether MMP officials were ever able to get rid of the sanctions Shevchuk answered: “It would be a fake to claim this way without evidence but surely the annulment wasn’t free of charge.” it could cost more expensive to have the matter solved without Chisinau,” he underlined Vladimir Thorik (RISE Moldova), Valeria Yegoshina (СХЕМИ Poroshenko-Sheriff business connections Parasite-firms of Transnistria Folosim cookie-uri pentru a-ți oferi cea mai bună experiență pe site-ul nostru web Poți afla mai multe despre cookie-urile pe care le folosim sau să le dezactivezi în setări Acest site folosește cookie-uri pentru a-ți putea oferi cea mai bună experiență în utilizare Informațiile cookie sunt stocate în navigatorul tău și au rolul de a te recunoaște când te întorci pe site-ul nostru și de a ajuta echipa noastră să înțeleagă care sunt secțiunile site-ului pe care le găsești mai interesante și mai utile Cookie-urile strict necesar trebuie să fie activate tot timpul astfel îți putem salva preferințele pentru setările cookie-urilor Aceasta înseamnă că de fiecare dată când vizitezi acest site va trebui să activezi sau să dezactivezi cookie-urile din nou Acest site folosește Google Analytics pentru a colecta informație anonimă precum numărul de vizitatori ai site-ului și cele mai populare pagini Menținerea activă a acestui cookie ne ajută să ne îmbunătățim site-ul Te rog activează mai întâi cookie-urile strict necesare ca să-ți putem salva preferințele EUROPA PENTRU TINE!Află despre beneficiile și oportunitățile oferite Republicii Moldova de Uniunea Europeană and Cabinet members received more groups of carolers A group of pupils from lyceum Evrika in Ribnita and theoretical lyceum Alexandru cel Bun in Bender provided a varied artistic programme with ancestral traditions thanked the children for spreading the spirit of Christmas throughout carols and Christmas songs The Chief of Executive also invited them to visit the Christmas market where children met with Santa Claus and had fun at the ice rink and the carousel Those pupils are among 1,500 children from the left bank of the Dniester who have visited the fair by the government’s support the fair will be visited by over 4,000 children from all boarding houses and from districts of Moldova All materials featured on this site are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) Technical-technological administration: Information Technology and Cyber Security Service.