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Kiev’s charges against Transdniestrian officials create negative background for talks

The pause in the 5+2 talks should not last too long, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich says

MOSCOW, September 11. /ITAR-TASS/. Kiev’s criminal charges against Transdniestrian officials do not create a positive background for talks on the resolution of the conflict between Moldova and the breakaway region, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

“Politically motivated criminal cases opened by Kiev against Transdniestrian officials do not create a positive background for the talks,” he said.

Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said the pause in the 5+2 talks (Moldova, Transdniestria, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Russia, Ukraine, and observers from the United States and the European Union) should not last too long.

The Transdniestrian settlement talks in 5+2 format were suspended at the end of February 2006. Chisinau and Tiraspol managed to resume the dialogue with Russia’s assistance two years later at the level of political representatives. They gathered every month to resolve pressing problems of the population of Moldova and the breakaway republic. In March 2009, the negotiations were resumed again after the trilateral meeting of the presidents of Russia, Moldova and Transdniestria. At their meetings in Moscow and Vilnius late last year and in Dublin this year, the parties agreed to resume the talks.

The agenda of the 5+2 talks consists of three sets of issues: socal and economic problems, humanitarian issues and human rights, and comprehensive settlement, including institutional, political and security issues.