You're reading: Rogozin: Moldova-EU association without consultations with Transdniestria to weaken Moldovan statehood

Moldova's compliance with the terms of its association with the European Union without consultations with Transdniestria will weaken Moldovan statehood, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said.

“The Russian Federation has always emphasized its adherence to the territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova. Yet we certainly cannot support steps towards settling economic problems, which are taken only on one bank of the Dniester River and practically turn the other bank into a detached observer doomed to be under a direct economic blockade; we think they may lead to new dramatic [events in relations] between the two parts of the same country,” Rogozin said at the Egmont Royal Institute for International Relations in Brussels on Tuesday.

He said he was especially worried about the regional situation in the context of the Eastern Partnership program.

“The Russian Federation has been strictly fulfilling its role of an international mediator and peacekeeper in the region, where blood was spilled, for more than two decades. The blood was spilled in spring and early summer of 1992. A new generation has grown up in the two parts of the former Soviet Moldova since then; they have no contact with each other, they do not know each other,” the deputy prime minister said.

“Being a special representative of the Russian president, I would like to warn you, esteemed colleagues, that we should be wise and reasonable and prevent any escalation of tensions in the regions that we call frozen conflicts,” Rogozin said.