CHISINAU, December 18 (RIA Novosti) - Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin said on Tuesday that any future resolution of the situation in Transdnestr, the country's breakaway republic, should not be based on the 'Kosovo pattern.'

Relations between Russia and Moldova have been strained for more than a decade over the issue of Transdnestr, a separatist republic with a large ethnic Russian population which proclaimed its independence from Moldova after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

"Russia and the United States are currently negotiating issues related to Kosovo and the CFE Treaty...The Transdnestr settlement depends on the results of these negotiations, and differs drastically from the Kosovo conflict, and should be settled differently," Voronin told the Euronews television channel.

The Moldovan leader said his country's territorial integrity was indisputable, going on to describe the Transdnestr conflict as "artificial."

"We are speaking of mafia-linked groups which have seized Transdnestr and turned it into a separatist territory - a status it has maintained for 16 years," Voronin said.

Voronin also said that though any Transdnestr settlement was linked to the conflict of interests between Russia, the United States, and Europe, Russia ultimately held the key to the destiny of the breakaway region.