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Transdniestria to adhere to tactic of small steps at talks with Moldova — foreign minister

The current state of relations between Chisinau and Tiraspol leaves much to be desired, it would be expedient to avoid unilateral actions and be guided by the do-no-harm principle, the minister says

Russian peacekeepers Sergey Karpov/TASS Archive

Russian peacekeepers

© Sergey Karpov/TASS Archive

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Transdniestria diplomat says Russian peacekeepers must stay as conflict is still in place

TIRASPOL, December 15. /TASS/. Transdniestria will stick to the "tactic of small steps" geared at finding solutions to socio-economic problems and building up mutual trust at the talks with Moldova, Transdniestria’s acting Foreign Minister Vitaly Ignatyev said on Tuesday.

"Today, it is vital to focus on steps to improve living conditions both in Transdniestria and Moldova. This task was set to the participants in the Five Plus Two negotiating format," he said at a meeting with Ambassador Cord Meier-Klodt, who will represent the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) at the 5+2 talks.

He said the current state of relations between Chisinau and Tiraspol "leaves much to be desired." So, he said, it would be expedient to avoid unilateral actions and be guided by the do-no-harm principle.

"A number of problems have emerged that are pushing back the process of settlement. These aspects require detailed discussion," Ignatyev said, citing as an example the problem of reciprocal criminal prosecution of state officials and Moldova’s imposing a ban on the freedom of movement of people and cargoes. He drew attention to Moldova’s and Ukraine’s plans to establish joint control along the border with Transdniestria, which, in his words, "can adversely impact both the economic situation and the negotiating process."

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"For a long time, Tiraspol has been refraining from proportional response measures in respect of Moldova," he stressed.

Talks in the 5+2 format, involving Moldova and Transdniestria as parties to the conflict, the OSCE as a mediator, Russia and Ukraine as guarantors and the European Union and the United States as observers, have been stuck for the second year on the backdrop of an aggravation in their relations. Only two out of five scheduled meetings were held in 2014. Moldova’s acting Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Osipov said at a meeting with Klodt on Monday Chisinau was "interested in the resumption of talks in the Five Plus Two format without preliminary conditions and thinks it necessary to resolve the key problem, i.e. find a political solution of the Transdniestrian conflict."

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