Moscow, June 14 (Interfax) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin has dismissed any allegations that a state border law passed by the self-proclaimed Republic of Transdniestria could escalate tensions and trigger a military confrontation as groundless.
“People who speak about the use of force seek to fan the fire in a place where there are no sparks and firewood,” Karasin told Interfax on Friday.
“The presence of Russian peacekeepers offers a reliable guarantee that an uncontrolled military confrontation will not happen there,” he said.
Such claims could be created by the “imagination of authors and politicians who want to escalate the situation,” he said.
Karasin did not rule out that “representatives of Russia and Ukraine will be sent there in the near future to analyze the situation once again.”
In these circumstances, “we need to move in a step-by-step manner to enable our joint efforts to contribute to confidence building measures and constructive relations between Tiraspol and Chisinau,” he said.
Russia’s Kommersant newspaper reported on Friday that Transdniestrian President Yevgeny Shevchuk signed a state border law, which provoked a fierce reaction from Chisinau and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The law says that a number of localities on Transdniestian territory are now under Chisinua’s jurisdiction. Sources in the Moldovan government told Kommersant that this law could contain “elements of the possible use of weapons.”
The 5+2 consultations include Moldova and Transdniestria as the sides in the conflict, Russia and Ukraine as guarantors, the OSCE as a mediator, and the European Union and the United States as observers.
