Representative Office of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic was opened in the Russian capital at the beginning of this year. Hundreds of Pridnestrovians living or temporarily staying in Russia have already applied here for support and advice. Meetings, forums, round tables are held there. While on a working visits to Moscow, the reception of citizens at the Representative Office is carried out by the President and the Heads of state authorities and government of the republic. Today it was especially crowded. The communication of compatriots with the PMR President was organized in an expanded format. The initiator of the event was Vadim Krasnoselsky. The goal is to find out how Pridnestrovians live far from their homeland, what difficulties they face and whether they plan to return to Pridnestrovie. Another important point is to clarify what need to be done so that the principle of “there is no place like home” worked. In addition, an important task was to inform as many compatriots as possible about the true situation in the republic. The premises of the Representation hardly accommodated everyone who wanted to take part in the discussion. Not only Moscow Pridnestrovians arrived at the meeting with the leadership of the country, but also those who live and work in St. Petersburg.
Welcoming the interlocutors, Vadim Krasnoselsky noted that remoteness from the homeland should not mean isolation. He spoke about the importance of full and high-quality information on Pridnestrovie.
The event was held in two stages. The first part is introductory. “Pridnestrovie: a time of transformation. The State for Life”- the Chairman of the PMR Government Alexander Martynov presented an illustrated report on this topic. He recalled the situation in the country's economy in previous periods, about what measures were taken to overcome the deplorable situation and what results have been achieved to date. All transformations are aimed at making the life of Transnistrians more comfortable, said Alexander Martynov. He spoke about the thousands of jobs created in the real sector of the economy, about those returned to the system and the creation of new enterprises, about investment projects being implemented and preparing for implementation. Infrastructure changes that have gained the right to life thanks to the state program of capital investments have not gone unnoticed. Operating only the second year, it allowed repairing and building hundreds of social facilities - schools, kindergartens, houses of culture, medical facilities. Hundreds of thousands of meters of roadbed and fleet of public transport and ambulance services were updated, the Chairman of the PMR Government said, reinforcing the words with specific numbers. Among the participants of the meeting, who first learned about many aspects of Pridnestrovian reality, information about the operation of the affordable housing program and the subsidized state-sponsored project launched caused particular revival and sincere surprise. With admiration and pride, they studied materials demonstrating how the recreation areas in the settlements of the republic and the venue of cultural events are changing.
As for the discussion part of the event, it showed that compatriots are concerned about a variety of aspects. They asked the President and the officials about the migration policy and the reasons for the closure of the Tirotex terry production workshop, were interested in the progress in resolving the issue of granting Russian citizenship to Pridnestrovians in a simplified manner, and asked to dispel rumors about Pridnestrovie allegedly joining Moldova, and suggested conduct more cultural events under the auspices of the PMR Representative Office in Moscow, as well as create similar institutions in other Russian cities. They raised the topic of a protracted solution to the issue of Moldova’s termination of politically motivated criminal cases against Pridnestrovians, giving examples, voicing names, describing the fate of specific people torn from their homeland. They talked about volunteers-defenders of the PMR. They asked questions regarding social benefits, rights and guarantees. In addition to the PMR President and Chairman of the Government, the discussion was attended by Deputy Prime Minister, Head of the Ministry of Economic Development of the PMR Sergey Obolonik, Minister of Social Protection and Labor Elena Kulichenko, Foreign Minister of the Republic, and Head of the Representative Office of Pridnestrovie in Moscow Leonid Manakov.
The group conversation lasted more than two hours. Then they moved on to more local discussions. The compatriots have already communicated privately, both with government officials who arrived from Pridnestrovie and with each other, exchanging information, ideas, plans, contacts.
