Vitaly Yankovsky, Transdnestr Deputy Foreign Minister, said, "We do not want to change the peacekeeping contingent," adding that Ukrainian observers could join the mission since talks about the issue had been held with the former and current Ukrainian leadership.
"There is no misunderstanding on the part of Russia or other intermediaries," Yankovsky said. "However, for internal reasons, Ukraine cannot join the mission and can only send military observers now."
Speaking about Moldova's demands to withdraw Russian peacekeepers from the Transdnestr Republic, the diplomat said Moldova was interested in resolving the conflict according to its own conditions.
"They think they can resolve the Transdnestr problem themselves," he added. "But military aggression is impossible due to the existing parity of the armed forces and military hardware."
"Moldova has a simple plan - to provoke incidents in the security zone, claim that the operation is illegitimate, and demand that the international community deploy some other mission, European or American," Yankovsky said. "But, above all, they want to remove Russian peacekeepers."
He added that the government in Tiraspol, the capital of Transdnestr, was ready to discuss EU and U.S. involvement in the Transdnestr settlement talks following bilateral Transdnestr-European and Transdnestr-American consultations.
Yankovsky said that new observers, including Romania [Moldova insists on this country's participation in the conflict resolution], could join the process with Tiraspol's consent.
He also said the republic was ready to negotiate anytime, but it needed the guarantee of the observation of previous agreements.
The Russian Foreign Ministry reported earlier that the intermediaries in the Transdnestr settlement (Russia, Ukraine, and the OSCE) could agree to invite U.S. and EU observers to join the talks at a September meeting in Odessa (Ukraine).
The Transdnestr armed conflict broke out in March 1992 when Moldova declared independence. Following that, the Transdnestr region, with a predominantly Russian population, proclaimed itself the Transdnestr Moldovan Republic.
According to official information, the Transdnestr Republic lost over 800 people during the conflict, including some 300 civilians.
The 14th Russian Army deployed in the region intervened in the conflict at the Moldovan president's request and separated the two sides.
In July 1992, the Russian and Moldovan presidents signed an agreement on the principles of a peaceful resolution of the armed conflict in the presence of the Transdnestr leader.
