[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 73 (Tuesday, June 13, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E991]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   PRESIDENT PUTIN'S VISIT TO MOLDOVA

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 13, 2000

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, President Putin of Russia 
continues to maintain a heavy schedule of international visits. Among 
the several destinations, he is scheduled to visit Moldova later this 
week.
  The Republic of Moldova is located principally between the Prut River 
on the west and the Dniestr River to the east, between Romania and 
Ukraine. A sliver of the country, the ``left bank'' or 
``Transdniestria'' region, extends beyond the Dniestr River and borders 
with Ukraine. The 4.3 million population in Moldova is 65 percent 
ethnic Romanian, with significant Ukrainian and Russian minorities. 
Gagauz, Bulgarians, Roma, and Jews constitute the bulk of the 
remainder.
  While Moldova and Romania were united between World Wars I and II, 
following seizure by the Soviets in World War II, Moldova became a 
Soviet ``republic.'' When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Moldova 
gained its independence and is now an internationally-recognized 
sovereign state, a member of the United Nations, the Organization for 
Security and Cooperation in Europe, and a host of other international 
organizations.
  When Moldova became independent, there were approximately 15,000 
Soviet troops of the 14th Army based in the Transdniestria region of 
Moldova. In 1992, elements of these troops helped pro-Soviet elements 
establish a separatist state in Transdniestria, the so-called Dniestr 
Moldovan Republic. This state, unrecognized and barely changed from the 
Soviet era, continues to exist and defy the legitimate authorities of 
Moldova.
  Meanwhile, elements of the former Soviet army, now the Russian army, 
remained in Transdniestria after the collapse of the Soviet Union. 
Renamed the Operational Group of Forces, they presently number about 
2,500. The Moldovan Government has wanted the troops to leave, and the 
Russians keep saying they are going to leave. The Moldovan and Russian 
Governments signed an agreement in 1994 according to which Russian 
forces would withdraw in three years. Obviously, that deadline has 
passed. Russia was supposed to remove her forces from Moldova as a part 
of the Council of Europe accession agreement in February 1996.
  In fact, language in the declaration of the 1999 OSCE Istanbul Summit 
insists that Russia remove its military arsenals from Moldova by 
December 2001 and its forces by December 2002. This latest OSCE 
language enhances language included in the 1994 Budapest document and 
the 1996 Lisbon document calling for complete withdrawal of the Russian 
troops.
  Mr. Speaker, there is no legitimate security reason for the Russian 
Government to continue to base military forces on the territory of a 
sovereign state that wishes to see them removed. This relatively small 
contingent of troops is a vestige of the Cold War. I would add also 
that the United States Government has agreed to help finance some of 
the moving costs for the Russian equipment. I would hope President 
Putin will assure his hosts in Moldova that the Russian forces will be 
removed in accordance with the OSCE deadline, if not earlier.

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