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Transdnestr referendum must be recognized - Russian envoy

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MOSCOW, September 7 (RIA Novosti) - The outcome of a referendum in Transdnestr, a self-proclaimed republic in Moldova, will have to be recognized, a Russian diplomat said Thursday.

The referendum, which was initiated by parliament in late March and scheduled for September 17, is designed to determine Transdnestr's future foreign policy course -- whether it wants international recognition as a republic annexed to Russia, or whether it should be part of Moldova.

"The issue is not about the official or unofficial participation [of observers], the recognition or non-recognition of the referendum, but it's all about a fact of political life, which will have to be recognized," said Valery Kinyaikin, the Russian Foreign Ministry's envoy.

Transdnestr, which has a predominantly Russian-speaking population, proclaimed its independence from Moldova in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Armed clashes between Moldova and Transdnestr ensued, and Russia has retained a military presence in the breakaway region ever since.

Kinyaikin said the parties to the conflict should reach agreement to work out the model of the future state with the assistance of international mediators, but that they first should resolve the troubled situation caused by Moldova's and Ukraine's imposition of new customs regulations in March, which resulted in an economic blockade of the breakaway republic.

"We are waiting for the sides to make political concessions, which will help them return to the negotiating table," the diplomat said.

The West has consistently refused to legally recognize Transdnestr's independence. In response, Russia claims that recognizing the sovereignty of Kosovo -- actively sought by the predominant Albanian population in the historically Serbian region -- would serve as a precedent for legalizing the status of other separatist regions in former Soviet republics.

Kinyaikin also denied accusations that Russian peacekeepers failed to implement their mission by not removing an arms depot that Transdnestr inherited from the Soviet Union and that has caused Moldova concern.

"Our military presence and the peacekeeping mission are two different things," he said arguing that Russia has removed almost all of its ammunition.

"A total of 57 trains have left [the republic], and there are still 33 to be sent, and we have scrapped part of the ammunition on site," Kinyaikin said.

He added that Russia has complied with its commitments under the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe early in 2001. The CFE, signed in 1990, is a major European arms control agreement. Its adapted version was signed in 1999, but only three of the signatory states - Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus - have ratified it so far.

The official said a military presence remained in the form of ammunition, which has not been removed, but that it was related not to the CFE but to a troop withdrawal commitment taken at an OSCE summit in Istanbul in 1999.

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