DEMARCHE ON DISRUPTION OF CHISINAU-MOSCOW RAIL

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 012231

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/02/2016
TAGS: PREL ETRD PBTS MD UP RS
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE ON DISRUPTION OF CHISINAU-MOSCOW RAIL
LINKS

REF: STATE 181103

Classified By: PolMinCouns Alice Wells. Reason 1.4 (b, d)


1. (C) We made reftel demarche November 1 to Ambassador
Valeriy Nesterushkin, MFA negotiator for Transnistria.
Nesterushkin made two notes of fact. In the first tick, he
said the decision to cancel trains no. 47 (Moscow-Chisinau)
and 48 (Chisinau-Moscow) was taken by Russian Railroads, not
the GOR -- though he admitted that Russian Railways is a
state-owned company. In the second tick, he said that there
is now no train from Transnistria to Moscow.


2. (C) Nesterushkin then went on to reject the demarche,
giving the Russian narrative of events. Train 47, he said,
is a "high speed" train that has for years traveled along the
high-speed tracks from Chisinau-Tiraspol-Kyiv-Moscow, making
the trip in 26 hours. In March, the Moldovan government
"unilaterally" re-routed the train through northern Moldova,
bypassing Transnistria. (Comment: He did not mention the
Transnistrian "self-blockade" that occasioned this. End
Comment.) This added 600 kilometers and 22 extra hours to
the schedule -- although Nesterushkin said the train was
consistently 3-5 hours late. Kyiv had negotiated an
exception, allowing its goods to pass through Transnistria
and Moldova and then back into Ukraine at the port of Reni,
from which cargoes could be shipped economically either to
the Black Sea or Romania. Given the extra expenses and
"schedule overloads," the Russians asked for a similar
exception, most recently last week when Deputy Security
Council Secretary Zubakov met President Voronin in Chisinau.
(Comment: Nesterushkin did not mention how this might affect
the Transnistrian "self-blockade." End Comment.) Voronin
refused, and the Russians had countered by canceling Train

47. According to Nesterushkin, this was a business decision
taken against political demands that caused Russian Railroads
and its customers to incur unjustified expenses.
Nesterushkin noted that the two "slow" trains between
Chisinau and Russia continue as before.


3. (C) Nesterushkin rejected the demarche's assertion that
"Moldova has the right to control its rail lines" -- or
rather, its implication that rail lines are in some way
different in terms of sovereignty from automobile roads and
bus, car or bicycle travel along them. He denied that there
was any connection between the cancellation of Train 47 and
the March Customs Protocol between Moldova and Ukraine. He
rejected the demarche's concerns over proposed new railway
routes on grounds that "simple people should have access to
rail transportation." He had nothing to say about the
closure of the Mogilev-Podolsk bridge over the Dniepr, saying
that concerns only Moldova and Ukraine.
BURNS