Grant Hutchison:
(...)I always think I'm looking complete, but I never am. I just try
to update the Perfs & Frags file whenever anything new comes along.
Ray has mentioned a new Moldovan exclave in the Ukraine to me, for
instance, but I have no details. (...)
Could it be the result of another road being handed over, near
Palanca (at mde)? I found this and translated it for you (source is
http://aim.iname.md/~mldnet/?id=180&record=497342 ):
---
News
13.07.2001
The Chiºinãu parliament has ratified the boundary treaty with the
Ukraine and thus transferred 18 hectares of Moldavian soil to the
jurisdiction of Kiev and the property of the Ukraine.
Today, the parliament of the republic of Moldavia has ratified by a
vote of 73 against 20 the Boundary treaty with the Ukraine, which
includes an additional agreement, that has been vehemently protested
by the parliamentary opposition.
The parliamentary communist majority, joined by three deputies of
the "Bragiºa Alliance" (AB), gave the go-ahead today to the give a
stretch of automobile road with a length of 7.7 km, which runs
through Moldavian territory in the area of the village of Palanca, in
property to the Ukraine for an indefinite period, and the 18 hectares
of land which is occupied by this road. According to the agreement,
the Ukraine will have the jurisdiction over the given territory,
which according to AB deputy Valerij Kosarèuk contradicts
international practice, according to which there is an obligation
that in property enclaves, the laws of the territory of which it
forms a part are in force.
The Christian Democratic opposition and the representatives of
the "Bragiºa Alliance" tried in vain to convince the communist
majority to postpone the treaty and to force the government to
reconsider the agreement about the regime of exploitation of the
disputed stretch of automobile road.
The Speaker, Evgenija Ostapèuk, declared that this morning the
Supreme Rada of the Ukraine ratified the agreement on the recognition
of property of the republic of Moldavia in the Ukraine. Answering a
request of AB deputy Lidija Guþu to provide the members of parliament
with the text of the agreement that was ratified in Kiev, Ostapèuk
said that a copy of the document, adopted by the Ukrainian deputies,
will be made available to the Chiºinãu legislature at a later date.
The CDNP deputy Vlad Kubrjakov suggested to the spokesman of the
foreign office, representing the government, to tell from whom
originated the initiative to give the stretch of road and the
corresponding piece of land in property to the Ukraine, considering
the fact that earlier on Kiev only asked for temporary use for a
definite period, laid down in an agreement. The vice-minister of
foreign affairs Eugen Carpov said that he is not authorised to go
into such detail. The Christian-Democratic deputies expressed their
disappointment in the not appearing of prime minister Tarlev himself,
who signed, two days ago in Kiev, the agreement on the transfer of
the stretch of automobile road and the conditions under which the
Ukrainians allow the local inhabitants to use this piece of Ukrainian
territory, "encroached" in the village area.
The Christian Democrats considered today's vote a "sell-out of
primordial soil", in breach of all constitutional rules, according to
which national territory is inalienable. In a decision adopted today,
the Christian Democrats accused the former government, that prepared
and signed the treaty, and also the communist majority, that,
although their criticism of their precursors, nevertheless supported
this normative act, considered to be unprofitable and highly
unpatriotic by the Christian Democrats. The opposition didn't
stipulate whether they consider to appeal against the documents that
were adopted today by the communists in the Constitutional Court.
The Speaker could hardly hide her irritation every time the
representatives of the opposition asked their questions or brought
forward their arguments, decisively contesting the ratification
documents which were discussed. The only one who, at first glance,
could control himself, was the leader of the communist parliamentary
fraction, Viktor Stepanjuk. He sat with a strained smile on his face,
and uttered little jokes at the address of the extremely heated
Christian Democrats, unsuccessfully trying to reach at the very least
a pause in the deliberations before the vote was to be held. Ostapèuk
declared, incidentally, that directly after today's parliamentary
session a group of deputies was going to leave for Palanca, but she
didn't point out the goal of this trip.
---
Peter S.