TIRASPOL, February 11 Head of the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic Vadim Krasnoselsky believes that the so-called «law on separatism» adopted by the Moldovan parliament defines all residents of Transnistria as criminals.
«There are four signs of genocide. There is the first sign. Do you know what it is expressed in? This is the setting of the people living in the territory, outside the framework of their legal field. The «Law on separatism» just put all the citizens of Pridnestrovie in the legal field. In quotation marks, finally, the legal field of Moldova, calling everyone criminals, you understand,» the First Pridnestrovskiy TV channel quoted Krasnoselsky as saying.
He noted that earlier the Moldovan authorities wanted to call the Pridnestrovians «outside the law, out of lawlessness.»
«Now they have come up with a law, calling all the inhabitants of Pridnestrovie criminals, corrected, in quotation marks, a legal gap. The attitude of the metropolis to Pridnestrovie, as they think, the metropolis, of course. That's all. In fact, the law provides all the grounds for bringing any citizen to criminal responsibility in terms of its physical, legal relationship to the PMR,» Krasnoselsky emphasized.
Last week, the Parliament of Moldova adopted in the second reading amendments to the Criminal Code, which envisage punishment for «separatism», «conspiracy against Moldova» and other similar crimes. The Transnistrian Foreign Ministry reacted sharply negatively to the adoption of the so-called «law on separatism» by the Moldovan parliament, believing that Chisinau was thereby undermining the negotiation process on the Transnistrian settlement.
Pridnestrovie, 60% of whose inhabitants are Russians and Ukrainians, sought secession from Moldova even before the collapse of the USSR, fearing that Moldova would join Romania on the wave of nationalism. In 1992, after a failed attempt by the Moldovan authorities to solve the problem by force, Transnistria became virtually a territory not controlled by Chisinau.