MOSCOW, March 20 (RIA Novosti) - The speaker of Transdnestr's parliament met with senior Russian MPs Monday to request humanitarian aid for the breakaway region of Moldova.
Yevgeny Shevchuk said Transdnestr had an acute demand for food, medicines, and baby food, adding that humanitarian aid would be distributed first among kindergartens, orphanages, those with low incomes, and medical institutions.
Shevchuk said Transdnestr had been forced to approach Russia after Moldova and Ukraine imposed an economic blockade against the self-proclaimed republic.
Moldova imposed new customs regulations in early March, requiring all Transdnestr goods bound for Ukraine to bear an official Moldovan stamp. The regulations were outlined in a joint communique adopted by the Moldovan and Ukrainian prime ministers on December 30, 2005, and endorsed by the Ukrainian Cabinet March 1.
Andrei Kokoshin, head of the committee for contacts with compatriots abroad at the Russian State Duma, said the lower house would approach the government shortly, proposing specific amounts of humanitarian aid to be sent to Transdnestr and ways to distribute the aid there.
Kokoshin also said the State Duma was already discussing a humanitarian aid plan, based on actual demand in the breakaway republic given the latest developments.
He could not give exact figures, but said the aid would be "considerable" and would target specific recipients.
A coordinating center set up in Transdnestr said Monday the republic had lost $41.2 million since the new customs rules were introduced.
Local factories had planned to ship products worth $32.4 million in early March, but were only able to dispatch $679,000-worth products.
Local exporters have lost $33.1 million since March 3, and tax deficits in republican and district budgets have accumulated to $6.3 million.
The center said the republic sustained an average of $5 million in losses every day.
Moldovan and Ukrainian officials insist the new rules are intended to eliminate smuggling and simplify the procedure for registering Transdnestr-based companies in Moldova's capital, Chisinau, thereby promoting trade with local businessmen.
The move is the latest flare-up in the conflict over Transdnestr's status since armed conflict broke out there in March 1992, when Moldova declared its independence from the Soviet Union and Transdnestr in turn proclaimed itself a republic. Russia intervened in the conflict at the Moldovan president's request since the Russian and Moldovan presidents signed a ceasefire agreement in the presence of the leader of Transdnestr in July 1992.
