Moldova files a UN resolution on withdrawal of “foreign military forces” from its territory

The Foreign Minister of Moldova, Tudor Ulianovschi, announced on Friday about the registration of a draft resolution on the “withdrawal of foreign military forces” at the United Nations Secretariat.

The resolution titled “Complete and unconditional withdrawal of foreign military forces from the territory of the Republic of Moldova” is expected to be addressed to the UN General Assembly on June 22nd. Around 10 states are sponsors of the resolution, Ulianovschi told the press.

The resolution calls on the UN Member States to urge the Russian Federation to “complete orderly, unconditionally and without further delay the withdrawal of the Russian Operational Group of Russian Forces” (more commonly known as OGRT or OGRV), in accordance to its commitment agreed at the 1999 OSCE Istanbul Summit, but also the UN Charter.

Foreign Minister Ulianovschi emphasized that the resolution does not call for the withdrawal of the Russian peacekeeping contingent which is under the command of the Joint Control Commission, the main peacekeeping mechanism in the Transnistrian conflict settlement.

Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the person of Vice-Minister Grigory Karasin, has called Moldova’s resolution “counterproductive” and “provocative”, that would mess the peaceful development of the Transnistrian issue settlement.

Transnistria’s “foreign minister”, Vitaly Ignatiev, has told NovostiPMR that the “destructive” resolution is directly threatening the peacekeeping operation by withdrawing the Russian peacekeepers.