MOSCOW, May 18. /TASS/. It is necessary to overcome the protracted pause and establish smooth work at the "5+2" negotiations on Transnistria, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Ambassador-at-Large and Russian envoy to the negotiation process on the Transnistrian settlement, Sergey Gubarev, said in an interview with TASS in the run-up to his working visit to Chisinau and Tiraspol.
"The pause in the ‘5+2’ negotiation process (which involves Moldova and Transnistria as the parties to the conflict, Russia and Ukraine as guarantors and mediators, the OSCE as a mediator, the EU and the US as observers - TASS) has definitely become too protracted," he noted. "Let’s recall that it was possible to overcome the two-year stagnation and resume talks in the summer of 2016 thanks to the efforts of Russia and the German OSCE chairmanship. We insist that the negotiation process be rhythmical. The regulatory documents of the Permanent Meeting on the Transnistrian Settlement envisage five or six official meetings per year, and we need to seek to work in accordance with this schedule."
According to the diplomat, it would be "unreasonable to expect specific results from every meeting, but meeting, expressing the parties’ positions and discussing them is the only way to achieve these results." "Let these steps be small, but they are important too," he explained. "Meetings between the Moldovan and Transnistrian leaders, ‘1+1’ meetings between political representatives of the parties, the working groups, are likewise useful, of course. However, it is also important to acknowledge the priority of the internationally recognized negotiation platform.
"As far as I know, both the Moldovan and Transnistrian sides share this approach and favor the early convening of an official ‘5+2’ official meeting," the ambassador said.
Referring to the main objective of his upcoming trip to the region, Gubarev noted that he plans to coordinate the issues, which could be included in the agenda of the official meeting, in Chisinau and Tiraspol. "It also important to realize how we could minimize the impact of new irritating factors in relations between the parties on the settlement process," he added. "Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that the most important thing is that Russia continues to be ready to act as a mediator and guarantor of compliance with the agreements that can be reached between the parties.".