Ukraine advocates special juridical status for Transnistria
Ukraine advocates a special juridical status for the breakaway Transnistrian region within Moldova. "Our stance is clear, impartial and equilibrated," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Konstantin Hriscenco has told Interfax-Ukriane news agency.
"We call for a peaceful settlement of the conflict, in line with Moldova's territorial integrity and sovereignty. Transnistria should be given a special juridical status within Moldova," the Ukrainian official said.
Referring to the five plus two negotiations, Hriscenko said that the five plus two format did not lose its efficiency. "Its composition - Moldova, Transnistria, OSCE, Ukraine, Russia, EU and USA - is a very good combination of regional and international actors, able to settle this problem," Hriscenko mentioned.
He said that the official talks on the Transnistrian settlement, frozen in 2006, should be resumed.
"Ukraine shows absolute responsibly towards its role of guarantor and mediator. For sure, we are interested in the settlement of a frozen conflict at the Ukrainian border," the head of the Ukrainian diplomacy said.
This week, special Russian and Ukrainian representatives in the negotiation process checked the storage of Russian armament in the village of Cobasna. Transnistrian leader Igor Smirnov said that "the armament is necessary for Transnistria s defence against foreign assaults. The unnecessary armament has been evacuated a long time ago."
At the OSCE summit held in December in Astana, the former Deputy Premier for Reintegration, Victor Osipov said that Moldova "has been suffering from the fact that a part of its territory is not under the control of the constitutional authorities." He reiterated the position of Moldova's leadership on the need to withdraw the Russian troops and armament from Moldova, in line with the stipulations of the 1999 OSCE summit and with Russia's commitments in this respect.
Moldpres
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