Russian, Moldovan presidents to hold talks in Moscow

MOSCOW, June 22 (RIA Novosti) - Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin arrives in Moscow on Monday for talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on bilateral relations and Moldova's upcoming elections.

A Kremlin official told RIA Novosti that the situation surrounding Moldova's breakaway region of Transdnestr would also be on the agenda.

"It is planned to exchange opinions on a wide range of priority issues for the strengthening of Russian-Moldovan relations, both bilateral cooperation and interaction in the framework of the CIS," the source said. "Among the topics is the situation in Moldova in connection with the start of the republic's election campaign for snap elections, which take place on July 29."

The previous parliamentary election, on April 5, gave Voronin's Communist Party 60 seats amid opposition accusations of vote rigging that sparked violent protests in the capital, Chisinau. The president was constitutionally required to call new elections after opposition lawmakers boycotted the vote to choose his successor twice, leaving the Communists one vote short of the 61 required.

The source said Moscow recognized its responsibility to work for a settlement on Transdnestr, which broke away from Moldova in 1990 and has de facto independence. Russian peacekeepers have been deployed in the unrecognized region since July 1992, along with Moldovan and Transdnestrian forces and Ukrainian military observers.

"Russia as the guarantor-state and mediator continues to actively assist efforts aimed at a universal and final settlement of the Transdnestr problem by the exclusively peaceful means of negotiations," the source said.

The negotiations stopped in February 2006 but Russia brought the two sides together this year in an effort to restart the process.

Medvedev and Voronin will also discuss the development of bilateral economic and trade ties. Russia is one of Moldova's largest trading partners, with bilateral trade valued at $1.79 billion in 2008, up almost a third on 2007.

Relations within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will also feature, particularly as Chisinau is chairing the post-Soviet organization this year, to be followed by Moscow in 2010.