Why Moldova broke its silence on Transnistria and what Trump has to do with it

Over the past week, the government in Chișinău, which rarely makes statements about restoring the country’s territorial integrity due to the topic’s unpopularity among the public, broke its silence and delivered several messages concerning the Transnistrian issue.

Chișinău has abandoned its previous core approach.

Now, Maia Sandu’s government publicly and unequivocally rejects any "geopolitical solution" to the Transnistrian problem, calling it unacceptable and insisting that Moldova must be reunified not according to a Western plan, but a Moldovan one.

The reason for this sudden shift and adjustment is that Washington is scarcely hiding its readiness to sacrifice European interests.

Read more about how Moldova is reacting to new geopolitical realities in the article by Sergiy Sydorenko, European Pravda's editor: A plan for Transnistria: why Trump’s ‘peace process’ frightened Moldova too.

On Wednesday, Moldova’s Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, Valeriu Chiveri, held a press conference announcing that Chișinău has definitively buried the "5+2" format and made it clear that Russia will not have a voice in any new formats on Transnistria.

His statement addressed the attempted linkage between Ukraine’s peace talks and a settlement in Transnistria. Civeri categorically opposed tying them together as a single package.

"We do not want to be part of a conflict-resolution package," he stated.

The deputy prime minister added, however, that Moldova could be involved in discussions on regional security architecture.

This statement contradicts the hopes for resolving the conflict that had previously circulated in Moldova albeit not publicly.

Multiple sources earlier told European Pravda that a comprehensive resolution of regional conflicts was seen as perhaps the most realistic way to force Russia to withdraw from Moldova as well. There had been hopes that major world powers, including the United States, and Ukrainian battlefield successes could achieve what Chișinău cannot accomplish on its own.

But this shift in approach is fully understandable – it is forced.

What is happening now in the US-Russia-Ukraine negotiation track is, at times, frightening. The US administration’s willingness to yield European interests to the Kremlin goes far beyond even the most pessimistic forecasts.

Who can guarantee that the next concession by US President Donald Trump will not be Moldova?

Worse still, Chișinău may learn about such a decision at the last moment, neither Washington nor, of course, Moscow intends to consult with Moldova in advance (they are not even consulting the EU on these points).

And by staying out of the negotiation process, Chișinău will have very limited tools to stop it.

That is why it makes sense to publicly declare in advance: Moldova will not accept any settlement of the Transnistrian conflict negotiated between global superpowers – that is, without Chișinău .

But this statement only makes sense if Moldova also takes the next step and presents its own vision for reintegrating Transnistria. Rejection of others’ peace initiatives can only be effective if Moldova has its own plan – one it insists on.

So far, that is missing.

For now, the Moldovan government says it is preparing its own reintegration plan in cooperation with the EU and the United States.

But if Moldova delays too long, it may soon be confronted with someone else’s strategy for reintegration with or without Chișinău’s consent.