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Moldova asks to postpone 5 + 2 negotiations, says Transnistrian foreign minister

Vitaly Ignatyev noted that this was an alarming signal

CHISINAU, October 27. / TASS /. Moldova has asked to postpone a new round of negotiations on the issue scheduled for November 2-3 in Stockholm, Foreign Minister of self-proclaimed Transnistria Vitaly Ignatyev said on Wednesday.

"The 5 + 2 negotiations (Moldova, Transnistria, OSCE, Russia, Ukraine and observers from the US and the EU), scheduled for November 2-3 in Stockholm, will not take place. Moldova asked to postpone the meeting," the foreign ministry stated on its Telegram channel.

"They ask to cancel or postpone the talks. The signal is alarming, Moldova allegedly needs to prepare. This makes it impossible to address many issues on the global platform," the press service quoted the top diplomat as saying.

During the upcoming meeting, Tiraspol plans to raise an acute problem - a ban on the entry and movement of Transnistrian vehicles within Ukraine from September 1 as well as inter-bank cooperation with Moldova.

At the 5 + 2 negotiations, held in Berlin in 2016 and in Vienna in 2017, the sides agreed on many disputed issues. However, in recent years, the process stalled amid the polls in Moldova in 2019, while the parties failed to arrange a single round in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving a number of agreements on hold.

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