Russia, the Near Abroad, and the West: Lessons from the Moldova-Transdniestria Conflict

by William H. Hill

Overview

Post-communist Russia turned against the West in the 2000s, losing its earlier eagerness to collaborate with western Europe on economic and security matters and adopting a suspicious and defensive posture. This book, investigating a diplomatic negotiation involving Russia and the formerly Soviet Moldova, explains this dramatic shift in Russian foreign policy.

William H. Hill, himself a participant in the diplomatic encounter, describes a key episode that contributed to Russia’s new attitude: negotiations over the Russian-leaning break-away territory of Transdniestria in Moldova—in which Moldova abandoned a Russian-supported settlement at the last minute under heavy pressure from the West. Hill’s first-hand account provides a unique perspective on historical events as well as information to assist scholars and policymakers to evaluate future scenarios.

When western leaders blocked what they saw as an unworkable settlement in a small, remote post-Soviet state, Kremlin leaders perceived a direct geopolitical challenge on their own turf. This event colored Russia’s interpretations of subsequent western intervention in the region—in Georgia after the Rose Revolution, Ukraine in 2004, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and elsewhere throughout the former Soviet empire.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421405650
Publisher:	Woodrow Wilson Center Press / Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	03/13/2013
Pages:	296
Sales rank:	465,169
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

William H. Hill was head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, charged with negotiating a settlement to the Transdniestria conflict and facilitating withdrawal of Russian forces and arms from Moldova. He is a professor of national security strategy at the National War College and was a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in 2001–2002.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Maps of the Region xvii

1 Introduction: How Things All Went Bad 1

2 Russia and the Post-Cold War Euro-Atlantic Security Architecture 9

3 Conflict Resolution in the Former Soviet Union: Russian Mediation, Peacemaking, and Peacekeeping 29

4 The Soviet Collapse and the Transdniestrian Conflict 48

5 The Voronin Constitutional Initiative 63

6 The Joint Constitutional Commission: Buyers' Remorse? 81

7 Roadblocks over Security Issues 92

8 The Summer of 2003: Pressing for a Settlement 109

9 The Competing Negotiations 119

10 A Settlement Is at Hand 138

11 The Dénouement 149

12 Conflict Resolution in Moldova and East-West Relations after Kozak 160

13 Russia and the West: An Endless Dilemma? 182

Appendixes

A The Mediators' Document 185

B The Kozak Memorandum-September 11 Draft 197

C The Kozak Memorandum-November 23 Redaction 207

Notes 221

Bibliography 253

Index 261

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

This is the first serious attempt to narrate and interpret the history of international efforts to solve the Transdniestria problem, with the focus—completely justified—on the crisis engendered by the Kozak memorandum. Although focused on Moldova, the crisis involved major international actors—Russia, the U.S., OSCE, EU, and Council of Europe—and put Moldova for a short time in the international spotlight. The crisis and its less-than-satisfactory resolution had multiple long-lasting consequences and is fraught with lessons for those who are interested in conflict resolution theory and practice, those who study Russian diplomacy and policy-making, and those who focus on political cultures of post-Soviet countries and of southeastern Europe. There is nothing coming even close, in terms of the breadth of vision and depth of knowledge of the subject matter, among the disparate journal accounts and position papers available up to now. This book is an absolute must.
—Vladimir Solonari, University of Central Florida, former Member of Parliament of the Republic of Moldova

Vladimir Solonari

This is the first serious attempt to narrate and interpret the history of international efforts to solve the Transdniestria problem, with the focus—completely justified—on the crisis engendered by the Kozak memorandum. Although focused on Moldova, the crisis involved major international actors—Russia, the U.S., OSCE, EU, and Council of Europe—and put Moldova for a short time in the international spotlight. The crisis and its less-than-satisfactory resolution had multiple long-lasting consequences and is fraught with lessons for those who are interested in conflict resolution theory and practice, those who study Russian diplomacy and policy-making, and those who focus on political cultures of post-Soviet countries and of southeastern Europe. There is nothing coming even close, in terms of the breadth of vision and depth of knowledge of the subject matter, among the disparate journal accounts and position papers available up to now. This book is an absolute must.

Editorial Reviews

Russia, the Near Abroad, and the West should be required reading for all Transnistrian settlement optimists, especially for those Europeans with ambitious plans for a quick resolution outside of official channels.
—William Schreiber, New Eastern Europe

This book, a narrative focusing on the southwestern confines of the "Russian space," is an event unto itself; a must-read, full of inside information, for any student or scholar studying Moldova, Transnistria, and de facto statehood. . .
—Octavian Milewski, Russian Review

A valuable study of Russian-Western relations, which should be recommended to a broad audience.
—Vsevolod Samokhvalov, Europe-Asia Studies

From the Publisher

A valuable study of Russian-Western relations, which should be recommended to a broad audience.

Europe-Asia Studies - Vsevolod Samokhvalov

This book, a narrative focusing on the southwestern confines of the "Russian space," is an event unto itself; a must-read, full of inside information, for any student or scholar studying Moldova, Transnistria, and de facto statehood. . .

Russian Review - Octavian Milewski

Russia, the Near Abroad, and the West should be required reading for all Transnistrian settlement optimists, especially for those Europeans with ambitious plans for a quick resolution outside of official channels.

New Eastern Europe - William Schreiber

Russia, the Near Abroad, and the West should be required reading for all Transnistrian settlement optimists, especially for those Europeans with ambitious plans for a quick resolution outside of official channels.

— William Schreiber

New Eastern Europe