President of the unrecognized Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic Igor Smirnov has to think more carefully about how his statements will effect relations with Moscow now.
Photo: AP, AP
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Transdniestrian Leader to Negotiate
President of the unrecognized Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic Igor Smirnov has announced his willingness to negotiate with Moldova. The rebel state has refused to negotiate for the last two years and became even more militant about its independence after Kosovo declared its independence. However, after Gazprom representatives visited him, and Transdniestrian Foreign Minister Valery Litskai visited the Russian Foreign Ministry, the situation changed.
After a conversation with an OSCE representative in Tiraspol, Smirnov declared that “We exchanged opinions on confidence building measures and spoke about renewing the consultative negotiation process in the 5+2 format [Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Transdniestria, the OSCE, United States and European Union], for the parties should reach an agreement.” He also expressed the hope that “the efforts of the parties and the intermediaries will permit at least small, but specific, steps to be made on the path toward normalization of relations between Transdniestria and Moldova.”
In 2006, Moldova and Ukraine imposed new customs procedures on Transdniestrian goods, requiring Moldovan documentation for them, and a referendum was held in the autumn of that year in support of the regions independence. Russia has tense relations with Moldova at the time and supported Transdniestrian claims. Since then, however, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin has improved relations with the Kremlin, guaranteeing that Russian property in Transdniestria would not be seized and that his country would not enter NATO. Smirnov, in the meantime, has misused Russian financial and humanitarian aid and run up a debt of $1 billion for Russian natural gas, with accusation of malfeasance in relation to Gazprom as well.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 29, 2008
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