Russian Duma Slams Ukrainian Border Regime With Transdniester

(RFE/RL) March 10, 2006 -- Russia's lower house of parliament has denounced new customs regulations Ukraine has imposed on the Transdniestrian stretch of its border with Moldova.

The regulations require all cargo to be cleared by Moldovan customs officers. Ukraine says the European Union-backed regulations are aimed at curbing illegal trade.

The Duma, in a resolution adopted on March 10, says Moldova has effectively imposed economic sanctions on its breakaway republic of Transdniester by introducing the new rules with Ukraine. It says the regulations are aimed at putting political pressure on Transdniester's separatist authorities.

"The actions of the Ukrainian-Moldovan side regarding Transdniester have neither economic nor political justification, but they are aggravating the situation in the region," the Duma's first deputy speaker, Oleg Morozov, said.

Transdniester, which is inhabited largely by ethnic Russians and Ukrainians, broke away from Moldova in the early 1990s. Russia maintains some 1,800 troops in the region.

In a declaration passed on March 9, Moldova's parliament said Transdniester's unrecognized government bears responsibility for the "artificial escalation of tensions."

(Interfax, ITAR-TASS)