As Moldovan propaganda would have it, Pridnestrovie is trafficking in anything from anthrax to nuclear warheads. And, by the way, sustains itself by a huge military-industrial complex.

But such allegations have never been substantiated, and, in October 2005 even US-funded Radio Free Europe reported that “Western diplomats in Moldova and Ukraine say reports of massive arms and drug smuggling emanating from Moldova’s breakaway Transdniester (Pridnestrovie) region appear to be wildly exaggerated. Officials from the EU and OSCE say they have no evidence that the Tiraspol regime has ever trafficked arms or nuclear material. Much of the alarm is attributed to efforts by the Moldovan government to increase pressure on Transdniester (Pridnestrovie)”

Rumors of an arms race and military build-up are greatly exaggerated, as are reports that Pridnestrovie is trafficking in weapons. The first indication of this came in 2002 when an ambitious internationally funded program called "Operation Ploughshares" was launched. The program, spanning 2002 and 2003, was the SECI Center's initiative against weapons trafficking and was implemented with the large scale collaboration of Moldovan law enforcement stationed on the joint border with Pridnestrovie. But in the entire duration of the program, they only seized a total of 159 weapons. The single largest category? Used hunting guns! (Source: Data provided by the SECI Regional Center for Combating Transborder Crime, 2003). Needless to say, the program was disbanded and not much was heard about it ever since.

The fact-based truth is that both OSCE and European Union officials have stated that there is no evidence that Pridnestrovie has ever, at any time in the past, trafficked arms or nuclear material.

The situation has been summed up by OSCE mission spokesman Claus Neukirch who cautioned: "There is often talk about sale of armaments from Transnistria, but there is no convincing evidence."

But not to let the truth stand in the way of a good story, the hacks were soon at it again. Because the story about a "black hole" exporting arms was simply too good to pass up — and if the evidence didn't exist, a writer thousands of miles away could always pepper it with weasel words such as "alledgedly" or "sources claim that..."

In "South Eastern Europe Small Arms and Light Weapons Monitor" a report by Saferworld, a United Kingdom based government-funded organization, we first find some unproven speculation about whatever possible future manufacturing capacity Pridnestrovie may or may not possess (emphasis ours): "Allegedly, the separatist regime in Tiraspol has the capability to manufacture and export different models of SALW, including assualt rifles, machine guns and Grad multiple-rocket launchers." The juxtapositioning of the word 'export' in a speculation about what Pridnestrovie might possibly be able to produce is especially cute.

The report is full of more of the same, including the typical unsourced smears ("Transdniestria has been described as a haven for organised crime."), a lot of guess-work ("... the state border, which is very likely to be used for weapons trafficking ...") and the usual technique of unproven and unsourced third party allegations ("...has allegedly exported in the past", "... are also said to be involved in production ...")

In the trade, these are called "weasel words."

Hidden away near the end of the report was half a line which quite correctly points out that with regards to Pridnestrovie, the authorities "have consistently denied any arms transfers from the region."

But this wimpy and easily overlooked disclaimer didn't do it for us. We wanted to find out who said all these other nasty things. Fortunately, Saferworld was willing to meet. So on 15 September 2005, British representatives of Saferworld sat down with Pridnestrovie's First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs O. Belyakov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs S. Guska and Deputy Minister of Defence V. Atamanyuk.

Pridnestrovie's position? We are an open book, so ask us anything you want, go anywhere you want, see what you want, and don't be bashful. To get the truth out, Pridnestrovie allowed Saferworld to undertake a comprehensive study of the situation concerning small arms and light weapons (SALW) in Pridnestrovie under the auspices of the UN Development Programme.

This report, released in late 2006, was much more objective than their first try.

The 2006 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report states that there is currently a degree of transparency and good levels of co-operation with Pridnestrovie in the field of weapons control. It also says that the evidence for the illicit production and trafficking of weapons into and from Pridnestrovie has in the past been exaggerated, and there is no reliable evidence that weapons are being produced.

Observers who take the time to actually visit Pridnestrovie in person will discover that it is a calm and pleasant place that earns it income from a variety of legitimate exports, some of them being textile, Kvint (the best brandy in Europe), electrical supplies, clothes, shoes, metal and construction materials. When it was part of the Soviet Union, it was known as the industrial region of the MSSR, and its concentration of working factories of light and heavy industry is much higher than in Moldova.

Pridnestrovie does not engage in the manufacture or export of weapons. But what about the rumors that it is home to the largest arms dump in Europe?

Whatever it may have been in the past, Pridnestrovie is no longer a significant weapons depot or "dump" for old Russian ammo. In recent years this situation has changed in Pridnestrovie, to the point where even the U.S. State Department now recognizes that the process of removal of Russian munitions and equipment has been carried out efficiently since 2003. In the first half of 2005, for instance, a total of 48 trains of Russian munitions and military equipment left Pridnestrovie under OSCE supervision. The allegations of Pridnestrovie being an "arms dump" is a thing of the past and it time to turn the page on a new chapter in the history of this young and emerging democracy.

On 9 February 2006, the first report from an international round of arms inspection visits by foreign government officials produced a clean bill of health for Pridnestrovie: No evidence of weapons manufacture or other arms involvement in any of the inspected factories.

[0]It's "military industrial complex" turned out to be a shoe factory, an agricultural processing facility and a radio assembly plant, as the first of a series of visits by international inspectors unveiled. After freely touring factories and industrial facilities in Pridnestrovie in early February, 2006, the international governmental inspection team produced its first public report and submitted it to the international community on February 9. It could not be more clear in its praise of Pridnestrovie's openness: Nowhere, in any single instance, did the team find any trace of anything that could be indicative of any arms or military equipment manufacture whatsoever.

Nevertheless, Moldovan and Romanian politicians hysterically keep accusing Pridnestrovie of being the center of a so-far invisible arms trade. The motivation behind the “black hole” interpretation of Pridnestrovie is transparent: it is clear that, whatever local people think about the government and its behaviour, Moldova hopes to soften up Western opinion for a “regime change” and color-coded revolution in Pridnestrovie.

But it looks increasingly like a case of the pot calling the kettle black. In Moldova, there is clear and unrefutable evidence of weapons trafficking to groups in the Middle East. In 2002 the US Government sanctioned two Moldovan companies for selling selling small arms and other military equipment to Iran. Later, an investigation put the spotlight on the transfer of huge amounts of Kalashnikov rifles and ammo to Islamic troublespots. (Source: Small Arms Survey 2003, a project of the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, page 109).

Pridnestrovie has a clean record and is not engaged in international weapons trafficking. The question now is: To what extent can Moldova say the same?

WHAT'S RELATED: Mudslinging: Black hole or Black ops? [1] International inspectors: No arms production in Pridnestrovie [2] No evidence of smuggling; allegations "wildly exaggerated" [3] Western officials: No drug smuggling in Pridnestrovie [4] Customs uses technology to end smuggling [5] more... [6]