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UN resolution on Transnistria to harm General Assembly’s reputation — Russian diplomat

The draft demanding complete withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Transnistria was passed by a simple majority of votes earlier

UNITED NATIONS, June 22. /TASS/. A United Nations resolution demanding withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Moldova, if passed, will seriously harm the United Nations General Assembly’s reputation as it runs counter to the OCSE’s efforts to settle the Transnistrian problem, a Russian diplomat said on Friday.

"The current initiative of the Moldovan delegation, when implemented, runs counter to the OSCE-brokered efforts towards Transnistrian settlement. Serious, if not irreparable, damage will be done to the United Nations General Assembly," Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky said ahead of the voting on the corresponding draft resolution at the United Nations General Assembly.

The draft demanding complete withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Transnistria was passed by a simple majority of votes on Friday, with 64 nations saying yes, 15 saying no, and 83 abstaining. The draft was initiated by Moldova, jointly with Georgia, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Ukraine, and Estonia.

The Russian diplomat expressed regret that "in conditions of evident loss of consensus the course towards further frustration of the Assembly’s unity has won the upper hand." "Once again, we reiterate that Russia is committed to the strict implementation of the mandate and tasks of the joint peacekeeping operation in Transnistria. Regrettably, so far there are no actual grounds to change the format of this operation," he stressed.

"We are committed to the process of political settlement of the Transnistrian problem," Polyansky said. "But the steps taken by Chisinau are destructive as they run counter to Moldova’s proclaimed policy towards the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict and contravene international agreements."

Transnistria, a largely Russian-speaking region, broke away from Moldova following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Its relations with Moldova’s central government in Chisinau have been highly mixed and extremely tense at times ever since then. In 1992 and 1993, tensions erupted into a bloody armed conflict that claimed the lives of hundreds of people on both sides.

The fratricidal war was stopped after a peace agreement was signed in Moscow in 1992 and Russian peacekeepers were brought into the conflict area. Negotiations on the conflict’s peace settlement known as the 5+2 format talks (involving Moldova and Transnistria as parties to the conflict, Russia, Ukraine and the European security watchdog OSCE as mediators and the United States and the European Union as observers) started after that.