President Sandu announces that he favors a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Transnistria

KISINAU, 1 September – RIA Novosti. Moldovan President Maia Sandu once again statedThat Chisinau represents the peaceful resolution of the Transnistria conflict.

Earlier, Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu summoned Russia’s charge d’affaires to Moldova, Anatoly Loshakov, to clarify Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s statements regarding Pridnestrovie. On Thursday, Lavrov said Moldova must understand that threats to the security of Russian peacekeepers in Transnistria will be seen as an attack on Russia.

“We are a peaceful country. We only accept a peaceful settlement of the Transnistrian conflict. Mr. Lavrov is aware of this as we are discussing this in a 5+2 format (OSCE, Russia, Ukraine with Moldova and Transnistria), European Union and United States – ed. ), Sandu said on the broadcast of the Pro TV channel on Thursday evening.

According to him, at the moment there is no presidential-level dialogue between Chisinau and Moscow, but current issues are still discussed at the level of diplomatic contacts. He has made it clear that he does not plan to start negotiations with the Russian leadership in the near future.

Chisinau and Tiraspol participate in the “5+2” format Transnistrian settlement negotiations as parties to the conflict, Russia, Ukraine, the OSCE – as mediators, the European Union and the USA – as observers. The last round of negotiations took place in Bratislava on 9 and 10 October 2019. In February, Ukraine suspended the activities of military observers in the peacekeeping operation in the Dniester. OSCE Chairman-in-Office Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said in a statement in Chisinau at the end of March that it is still difficult to discuss when and under what conditions the next meeting in the 5+2 format will take place.

Transnistria, 60% of its population Russian and Ukrainian, wanted to secede from Moldova even before the collapse of the USSR, fearing that Moldova would join Romania in a wave of nationalism. After the failed attempt by the Moldovan authorities to resolve the problem by force in 1992, Transnistria became a region almost not under Chisinau’s control.