Expert: Ukraine Expects Chisinau to Be Determined Acting as a United Front

Sergiu CEBAN Moldova and Ukraine get another historic chance to open a new page of successful cooperation, since the necessary prerequisites are being formed for. According to experts, Maia Sandu’s election to the presidency opens up some opportunities for overcoming the political isolation, which has burdened the country for several years. Lacking sufficient internal resources, Chisinau is largely dependent on the help of its main development partners, especially with its closest neighbors - Romania and Ukraine, since their relations have cooled significantly. Igor Dodon’s factor became such a serious irritant for the neighboring states that they were forced not only to refuse to meet with him but reduce as well the intensity of interaction with Moldova. With the change in political circumstances, Bucharest and Kiev joined the work with the new Moldovan leader, hoping for an early reset of bilateral relations. And this taking into consideration all the costs, associated with the truncated competencies of the head of state, as well as the difficultly predictable internal political situation in Moldova. Therefore, despite the objectively complicated situation, at the end of this year or at the beginning of next one, several serious visits at a high state level leading to tangible breakthrough decisions might be expected. Without waiting for the official inauguration, on December 10, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Culeba arrived in Chisinau on a working visit, planning to meet with President-elect Maia Sandu, Parliament Speaker Zinaida Greceanîi and with his Moldovan counterpart Aureliu Ciocoi. Surprising or not but the current President Igor Dodon is not on the program of the visit of the Ukrainian Foreign Minister. Such an urgent trip of the chief Ukrainian diplomat rather looks like a broad political gesture from Kiev, which has apparently equipped the head of the foreign policy department to personally take up the Moldovan president’s visit to Ukraine preparation. This speaks of the most serious intentions of Kiev and the desire to fill the upcoming trip with the maximum practical content. Among the topics that Kuleba announced on the eve of the visit are the issues of Ukraine's national security, the elimination of controversial issues, the Transdniestrian settlement and the launch of ambitious joint projects. As well known, bilateral Moldovan-Ukrainian relations received a powerful impetus in 2014, when Kiev and Chisinau agreed on the need for closer cooperation on security issues. Against this background, there was a synchronization of positions on a wide range of issues, including the Transdniestrian settlement, thus a joint border management project was activated, including the creation of a network of joint checkpoints. Nevertheless, relations between Moldova and Ukraine, as well as between any neighbors, have a rich agenda of various issues of varying degrees of complexity. Both countries have long been concerned with the problems of joint use and protection of the Dniester River’s ecosystem, the issues of registration of property rights to individual objects and property, the completion of state border demarcation, as well as the elimination of barriers in mutual trade. Moreover, Moldova is one of the few post-Soviet republics that in most cases tries to support Kiev's diplomatic initiatives. An example of such solidarity is the recent vote of the Moldovan delegation in support of the UN General Assembly resolution urging Russia to immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw its armed forces from Crimea and immediately end the temporary Ukrainian territory occupation. In this regard, most likely, we should expect further strengthening of the Moldovan-Ukrainian interaction and coordination within the framework of international organizations. One of the most serious problems for the Ukrainian side that draws attention and resources to itself is the current state of regional security, complicated by the unresolved Transdniestrian conflict and the factor of the Russian military presence. Since 2014, Kiev has made every effort to aggravate the supply of the Russian military group in the Transdniestrian region, including denouncing a number of bilateral agreements with the Russian Federation. In this regard, Kiev has long been saying they would like to see a predictable partner rear in the person of Moldova, who will finally move from endless words to deeds and show more decisiveness in the fight against the Russian threat. Therefore, preparing Maia Sandu's visit, it is most likely that the Ukrainian side will expect firm intentions from Chisinau in this matter. This, in turn, will allow the parties to work out a plan of joint practical actions that can truly intensify the process of the two banks of the Dniester reintegration. In the context of recent, President-elect statements about the need to withdraw the Russian military and transform the peacekeeping operation, one of the effective steps in support of the new Moldovan leader could be withdrawing Ukrainian military observers from the current peacekeeping format or replacing with civilian representatives, just as Chisinau suggests. Thus, as we see, now Moldova and Ukraine get another historic chance to open a new page of successful cooperation, since the necessary prerequisites are being formed for. Ukraine, as already mentioned, expects from Chisinau a principled readiness to act as a united front and not declarative loyalty. It is particularly expected joining various Ukrainian initiatives and mechanisms of international pressure on Moscow, following the example of the "Crimean Platform", to which Moldova was recently been invited by Ukrainian colleagues. Therefore, to implement the existing potential of bilateral relations, Chisinau will have to make a fundamental choice and abandon the long-term practice of balancing between Moscow and Kiev, placing on developing relations with its closest neighbor.