Ukraine MP Threatens to Build Statue to Nazi Collaborator in Transnistria If It Tries to Join Russia

Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, is a de facto breakaway state sandwiched between Moldova and Ukraine. An armed conflict broke out in the region after Moldova declared sovereignty from the Soviet Union in 1990, with Transnistrians rejecting the decision.

A Ukrainian lawmaker has threatened to erect a monument to WWII-era Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera over Transnistrian Foreign Minister Vitaly Ignatiev’s remarks that the unrecognized republic intends to seek independence and eventual unification with Russia in accordance with the results of a 2006 referendum.

“‘That feeling when your classmate wants to get a beating, but doesn’t know how. You sit quietly over there [in Transnistria] while we have other things to do, otherwise your accession will end very quickly, and in such a way that you’ll be made to erect a monument to Stepan Andreevych [Bandera] in Tiraspol,” Rada lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko wrote on his Telegram on Friday.

The lawmaker, who is also a member of the permanent delegation of the Rada in the Parliamentary Assembly and Council of Europe, and vice president of its committee on migration, has built a reputation for himself as one of Ukraine’s most notorious ultra-nationalists. In May 2014, he filmed himself taking part in the Odessa massacre – violent clashes in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa in which 42 anti-Maidan activists were burned alive in the city’s Trade Unions building.

Honcharenko recently got in a spat with the Serbian government after he suggested that Belgrade and the Serbian people need to be “re-educated” by Ukraine and Croatia over President Alexandar Vucic’s statements in support of Russia. Serbian Interior Minister Alexandar Vulin rebuked the Ukrainian lawmaker, telling Sputnik that Serbia “will not be re-educated by anyone, and especially not by followers of [Croatian Nazi puppet state head Ante] Pavelic or Bandera.”

Stepan Bandera was a Ukrainian ultra-nationalist and WWII-era Nazi collaborator. His followers were responsible for the mass killings of tens of thousands of Poles, Jews, anti-nationalist Ukrainians, and Russians in western Ukraine during the war. Bandera was hunted down and assassinated by the KGB in West Germany in 1959.

Transnistria Would Like to Eventually Join Russia, FM Says

Honcharenko’s comments followed remarks by Transnistrian Foreign Minister Ignatiev earlier Friday on the breakaway’s intent to gain independence and eventually join Russia.

“Transnistria’s vector has remained unchanged throughout the years of the republic’s existence, as reflected in the results of the referendum of September 17, 2006, where it was clearly indicated [that residents want] independence and subsequent free accession into the Russian Federation. The country’s independence is an absolute priority,” Ignatiev told Sputnik in an interview.

During the 2006 referendum, 98 percent of voters came out in favor of independence and potential future integration with Russia, with a voter turnout of 78.6 percent.

Ignatiev expressed confidence that no one can challenge the longstanding arguments in international law in defense of the concept of sovereignty. “Transnistria will not make any decisions to the detriment of its half-million residents, and will act in a pragmatic and honest manner,” he said.

Later in the day Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he was aware of media reports about Transnistria's aspirations to join Russia, but added that he was not sure why such statements were being made right now. "No, I honestly saw media reports but don't know what caused them, I don't know what's going on, that's all I can say."

Situated on the right bank of the Dniester River, Transnistria has enjoyed de facto independence from Moldova since 1992, when Russian peacekeepers were deployed to halt fighting between Kishinev and local pro-independence forces. Sandwiched between Moldova and Ukraine, the breakaway has faced heightened tensions in the face of the Russian military operation in the latter country, with officials in Kiev repeatedly threatening to invade it.

The republic is home to about 475,000 people, with ethnic Moldovans, Russians, and Ukrainians making up 33, 34, and 26.7 percent of the population, respectively. When it proclaimed sovereignty from Kishinev in 1990, Transnistria accounted for 12 percent of Moldova’s land area, but 40 percent of its industry and 90 percent of its electricity production. Today, Transnistria and Moldova are among the poorest in Europe.

On Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry informed members of the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament, that the current 5+2 format for resolving the Moldova-Transnistria conflict (consisting of Moldova, Transnistria, Russia, Ukraine, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, plus the US and the European Union as observers), was not working, with the last meeting held two years ago.