"I will be visiting Kiev next month, and I hope to discuss this issue," Lavrov told a news conference. "My Ukrainian counterpart and I will consider how Ukraine and Russia could help bring the issue back on the diplomatic track."
Ukraine, along with Russia, is mediating in negotiations on the status of the predominantly Russian-speaking region, which broke away from mainly Romanian Moldova after a brief war following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.
The talks stalled in March this year after Ukraine, which supports Moldova in the dispute, toughened customs regulations for the breakaway province, demanding that Transdnestr exports pass customs clearance in Moldova before they are allowed through the Ukrainian border.
Officials in Ukraine and Moldova presented the new rule as an anti-smuggling measure. But Transdnestr's leadership said it effectively amounted to a trade blockade, and responded by calling a referendum on the self-proclaimed republic's independence - a move Chisinau and Western mediators refused to recognize as legitimate.
In the September 17 plebiscite, more than 97% of Transdnestr's population voted in favor of independence and subsequent accession to the Russian Federation.
"The referendum was an expression of the Transdnestr people's will, and this is a fact that has to be taken into consideration," Lavrov said.
Earlier, the Russian foreign minister said the referendum's outcome had been predictable and that it served as "further proof that the conflict should be resolved in line with available agreements."
Moldovan authorities said they were willing to extend autonomy for the separatist region, which still has no international recognition, but brushed away the idea of granting it independence.
The West has consistently refused to 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.
