"This document is one of 130 acts signed during [Transdnestr-Moldovan] talks [in Moscow in May 1997] and is not an international legal document. Therefore, it cannot be denounced," the government said in a statement in response to an initiative from a number of opposition lawmakers.
The parliamentarians had claimed that the Transdnestr and the Russian authorities considered the memorandum an international agreement.
Relations between Moldova and Transdnestr have been tense since March 1992, when Moldova declared independence from the Soviet Union and Transdnestr in turn proclaimed itself a republic. Russia intervened in the armed conflict at the Moldovan president's request, and the Russian and Moldovan presidents signed a ceasefire agreement in the presence of the leader of Transdnestr in July 1992.
