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Transdniestria asks Moldova to abandon mutual persecution of officials

Transdniestria proposes "to introduce a moratorium on opening new politically motivated criminal cases as a first step"

TIRASPOL, February 19. /TASS/. Transdniestria proposes to Moldova to abandon mutual criminal persecution of official, deputy foreign minister Dmitry Palamarchuk told reporters on Friday.

"We stand for simultaneously closing criminal cases on the basis of reciprocity, on an ‘all for all’ basis," Palamarchuk said adding that Tiraspol understands that this is a very complicated process. Transdniestria proposes "to introduce a moratorium on opening new politically motivated criminal cases as a first step," he added.

The Transdniestrian conflict started in March 1992 when the first clashes occurred between Moldovan police and Transdniestrian militia near the city of Dubossary, which were followed by an outbreak of armed hostilities. By summer, it had developed into large-scale fighting in Bendery, where about a thousand people were killed and tens of thousands were wounded and became refugees.

The fratricidal war was stopped after a peace agreement was signed in Moscow in July of the same year and Russian peacekeepers were brought into the conflict area.

Since then, they have been guarding peace and calm in the region, together with their Moldovan and Transdniestria colleagues, thus allowing Chisinau and Tiraspol to conduct negotiations on the settlement of the conflict around the breakaway republic.