You're reading: Moldovan officials: Peacekeeper force at Dniester checkpoint to be cut after incident

The personnel of peacekeeping Checkpoint 9 on the Dniester River will be cut from seven to four on Thursday, Jan.5, and the remaining four peacekeepers will stay exclusively to monitor the situation, said Moldova's Deputy Prime Minister Eugen Carpov responsible for reintegration.

This plan was approved on Wednesday after the government of Moldova held talks with the peacekeeping force’s joint military command, he told the press.

"This initiative has to do with Checkpoint 9, but the idea is to introduce a simplified mechanism at all peacekeeping checkpoints," Carpov said.

Also, the iron-and-concrete road blocks will be removed at the checkpoint on the bridge across the Dniester, he added.

"Effective solutions must be found to control the traffic along this perimeter without obstructing free travel. A speed limit could be introduced on the railway," Carpov said.

Concerning the prospect of replacing the peacekeepers with a civilian force with an international mandate, "Moldova is not the only party advocating this solution," he said.

"An official document arrived yesterday from the foreign ministry of Ukraine, a mediator in the 5+2 talks, citing the need in this change.

Ukraine said it was prepared to actively participate in the discussions of how the current peacekeeping operation on the Dniester could be reshaped into a peace-guaranteeing mission with an international mandate involving several states," Carpov said.

After an armed conflict in spring and summer 1992 Moldova and Russia signed an agreement on the principles of peaceful settlement of the conflict. A security zone was formed, which was filled by a mixed peacekeeping force. The force has been cut several times over the past 20 years which have not seen any incidents or armed conflicts, except shots fired accidentally.

A Russian peacekeeper fatally wounded a local resident in the security zone of the Transdniestrian region early on January 1. The incident occurred at Checkpoint 9 on the bridge across the Dniester River between the Transdniestrian village of Pyryta and the Moldovan town of Vadul-luy-Vode.

Resident of Pyryta, Vadim Pisar, 19, who was traveling in a car, disregarded the peacekeepers’ order to stop, rammed the boom barrier and smashed the halt sign at the checkpoint. The chief of the peacekeepers’ force fired warning bursts and then opened fire on the car, seriously wounding Pisar.

The wounded village resident was rushed to a hospital, but he died soon after a surgery was performed on his spine. Moldova’s prosecutors started a probe into the incident.

The government of Moldova has provided about $10,000 to the family of the killed man for the funeral.

Several hundred people gathered on Wednesday to bury Pisar. They held a rally near the checkpoint after the funeral to demand that the peacekeeper who killed the young man be punished and the checkpoint removed. The protestors dispersed after talks with Moldovan government officials.

An envoy of the Russian Military Prosecutor’s Office arrived in Chisinau on Wednesday to probe the incident jointly with the Moldovan Prosecutor General’s Office.