MOSCOW - Moscow expects that the negotiating parties on the settlement of the Transdniestria problem will resume regular contacts between Chisinau and Tiraspol political figures.
“Russia, as a guarantor of the Transdniestria settlement process and one of the mediators, expects that the parties to the negotiating process will display a constructive approach toward resolving topical matters on the agenda, and it expects the resumption of Moldova’s active involvement in the activities of bilateral expert groups and regular contacts between Chisinau and Tiraspol political representatives following elections in Moldova scheduled for November 30,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement summing up outcomes of a meeting between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin and special representative of the OSCE chairperson-in-office for the Transdniestrian settlement process Radojko Bogojevic.
The parties also discussed the state and prospects of the negotiating process and the principal areas of the OSCE’s activity on the Transdniestrian track in 2015.
“The Russian side pointed out that the initiation by Chisinau of criminal cases against official Transdniestrian representatives, as well as the drawing up of legislation by the Moldovan parliament under which the majority of the population on the left bank of the Dniester would legally be treated as offenders of Moldovan law do not promote the creation of a positive background for a negotiating process. In the current situation, this looks provocative,” it said.
At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized that the pause in the 5+2 negotiating process should not be protracted. “It cost the international mediators too much effort to resume the negotiations in 2011 following a six-year recess,” it said.
