- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Moldova, Ukraine to bring Transdnestr back to negotiating table

Subscribe
CHISINAU, June 26 (RIA Novosti) - Moldova and Ukraine will try to persuade Moldova's breakaway Transdnestr region to have its status determined through multiparty negotiations rather than a plebiscite, the countries' foreign ministers said Monday.

Transdnestr, a mainly ethnic Russian region that proclaimed independence from Moldova in the early 1990s, has said it will hold a referendum on sovereignty this fall.

Speaking at a joint press conference in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, Andrei Stratan and Borys Tarasyuk said they hoped to bring Transdnestr back to the negotiating table by September, for talks in a 5+2 format.

The 5+2 format talks involve Moldova and Transdnestr, plus mediators from Ukraine, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as well as observers from the European Union and the United States.

"The local authorities' intention to hold the referendum is a step in the wrong direction. [Contentious] issues should be resolved [through talks] in the current format," Stratan said.

Tarasyuk said, "There are no legal grounds to compare the situation [in Transdnestr] to [that in] Montenegro or Kosovo and to put the region's independence [to a vote]."

Montenegro recently voted to secede from its union with Serbia, while Kosovo is widely expected to become independent in the near future via a referendum.

Tarasyuk said Ukraine will not recognize the results of the mooted plebiscite, and will not change its line in the Moldova-Transdnestr dispute after a new coalition government comes into power in Kiev. Ukraine has traditionally sided with Moldova in the long-running dispute over the sovereignty of Transdnestr.

Asked about the Ukraine-sponsored idea of bringing Romania into the talks, Tarasyuk said it was unlikely to come off, as other participants were not as enthusiastic. But, he added, Romanian officials will be able to join in as part of an EU delegation after the country enters the European club of nations on January 1, 2007.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала