Moldova fails to end policemen's arrest spat with Transdnestr

TIRASPOL, June 16 (RIA Novosti) - A special meeting of a commission regulating the ongoing conflict around Moldova's breakaway Transdnestr region to discuss the arrest of five Moldovan policemen in the province has failed to resolve the dispute.

The policemen were arrested Wednesday by Transdnestr special forces.

The Moldovan and Transdnestr delegations at the Joint Control Commission disagreed over whether the detainees were a Moldovan police team on a special mission (Transdnestr's position) or five separate police officers who were visiting the city for different, unrelated reasons (Moldova's position), the JCC press service said.

After several hours of intense discussions, the JCC agreed to end the discussion and meet again next Tuesday.

The JCC is responsible for security in the buffer zone between Moldova and unrecognized Transdnestr, and also includes representatives from Russia, which has had peacekeepers in the area since it intervened in a conflict between Moldova and Transdnestr in July 1992.

Transdnestr's state security minister said Thursday he had sent a letter to the Moldovan authorities asking for clarification of what the officers were doing in the region, why they were outside the conflict zone and why their actions had not been coordinated with Transdnestr's authorities.