The Palanca border, between Moldova and the Ukraine, is a sort of no man’s land, between two parts of Ukraine. But with two frontier posts: a Ukrainian one and, two kilometres further, a Moldovan one. The result: a black hole, small certainly, but a fault in border control. We leave Ukraine with transit papers valid for a few minutes before entering another part of Ukraine a few kilometres further. But this is usual, because there is nothing to prevent you from “turning left and finding yourself in Moldova,” specifies an expert. Despite all their recommendations, the Europeans have still not succeeded in obtaining a joint control post. “It reminds me of my early career, when I was on the border between Italy and France (the Schengen agreement was not yet in force) when we would ‘quarrel’ with our Italian counterparts,” recounts Pierre Albarelli, a former member of the French air and frontier police responsible for the zone, with a smile on his lips. “We are not here to replace the customs officials of these two countries. That remains their responsibility,” specifies Udo Brukholder, deputy director of EUBAM.

OLD HABITS DIE HARD

The past holds sway. “It is not clear. One goes from a concept of soldiers guarding the border by preventing transit, to customs officers, who facilitate movement, by detecting the ‘bad ones’, thus making further use of cooperation and profiling,” explains Albarelli. “The Ukrainians and Moldovans are good, seasoned professionals. Here, for example, there is an obsession with secrets, a ‘secrecy mania’. Certain information is sometimes sensitive to obtain, other information is almost top secret. Even the simplest document, such as a simple patrol plan, for example.” The first EU experts were somewhat taken for spies. The initial occasions of working together were not easy.

However, over time, the advice, recommendations and experience of the EU customs officers are appreciated and ‘generally followed’. Time is needed for the hierarchy chain to follow. But the senior officials from the two countries have regularly sat around the same table to resolve the different problems. “This undeniably makes the relationship easier,” stresses Albarelli. The training of personnel, the use of modern methods – targeting which people are stopped – is becoming habitual, little by little.

However, many structural inadequacies remain. The local customs officers are not used to using infiltration techniques. Only the personnel of the former KGB use these methods. But they do not work at the border. Smuggling is also a ‘national sport’. Smuggling facilitated by the absence of precise demarcation of the borders, explains Ferenc Bánfi, the head of EUBAM. “Criminals, though caught red-handed, are well organised. Helped by good lawyers, they have few problems in making a case before the court for crossing the border.” As for the fight against corruption, the ‘tolerance zone’ is sometimes applied ‘flexibly’ ⁽¹⁾. When several Ukrainian agents were suspected, the authorities responded to EUBAM that the agents had been ‘neutralised’, ie simply moved to another place…

The daily work is rendered all the more difficult by the situation in Transnistria. EUBAM avoids all official contact to prevent being tricked by the secessionist authorities. But it seems that a part of the transit across Ukraine passes through this self-proclaimed republic. Now, on part of the border, Ukrainian customs officers are alone without Moldovan counterparts. And the “traffic of certain merchandise seems to benefit from solid support on both sides of the border,” confides a customs officer. The traffic in chickens is revealing. In Ukraine, it costs €900 per tonne, but €140 from Transnistria. With a difference of almost €700, it is very tempting. Regarding statistics, the Transnistrians have become the largest consumers of chicken in Europe (ten times more than an average European). But the situation has cost the Ukrainian budget some €42 million.

AT THE HEART OF TRAFFICKING?

Suspicion has been directed at Transnistria for a long time, this long band of earth being seen as a turntable for all possible types of traffic: drugs, arms, human beings… The east of Moldova – its Transnistrian region – was specialised, under the Soviet Union, in producing weapons, principally light arms (Howitzers and Kalashnikovs) and missile parts. Eleven installations able to produce arms have been recorded. And, according to specialists, 20 tonnes of munitions remain without anyone knowing their use or destination.

But EUBAM has never discovered arms traffic. And the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) – present in the region – has no proof of what could have been exported. However, it remains very difficult to control what is present. Ten missiles have mysteriously disappeared. The Transnistrians said that it was a matter of ‘water damage’. But there has never been any tangible evidence of this ‘disappearance’.

Though there is freedom of movement for OSCE’s international officers, they cannot freely approach munitions depots, for example. These are under close surveillance. And surprise inspections are not possible. The last on-site inspection took place in 2006. Since then, the OSCE has not wanted to go there to avoid giving a guarantee to a contested regime. “Talking about arms trafficking boils down to fantasy,” stresses an EU customs officer. “We fantasise a lot about Moldova. Personally, I have never seen weapons, but lots of chickens,” he quips.

On the other hand, it seems certain that the territory has focused on certain lucrative markets, such as cigarettes. To see the prices in the shops, paltry compared to other European countries – between two and seven roubles will buy the Western brands (Winston, Lucky Strike, Camel), which is equivalent to 15 to 50 eurocents – there is much to encourage trafficking. There are illegal cigarette factories in Tiraspol. When a company went under in Bulgaria, the Transnistrians recovered the machines and the workforce. The cigarettes then circulate from Ukraine to the EU (in cigarette seizures, this country takes second place).

THE DRUGS ROUTE

In fact, the whole region – Transnistria, Moldova and Ukraine – is at the confluence of the new routes chosen by smugglers. “The drugs which come from Afghanistan mainly – but also Iran – usually arrive through Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro, ie the Balkans route,” says a customs officer. There, the Kosovar and Serbian mafias ‘share’ the market. “Since the police increased their activities in the region” – partly with the encouragement and funding of the EU – “the criminals have established other routes, judged to be safer for them. One heads north (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, EU), and the other heads south (Georgia, Cyprus, Odessa, Russia and the EU). The smugglers’ modi operandi are becoming more and more sophisticated. “The criminals are very intelligent and use all the high technologies,” specifies an EU customs officer. “Cocaine is often introduced into fruits (a seizure of this kind took place in Odessa), or dissolved in bottles of wine (one seizure in Chisinau). One new technique, still more subtle, consists of impregnating fabrics (t-shirts, carpets) with cocaine – which is then invisible – then through a special treatment, to recover the raw material…”

⁽¹⁾ According to the 2007 barometer of the NGO Transparency International, 30% of people questioned in Moldova say they have paid a bribe for an administrative service.