VIENNA, December 15. /TASS/. Russia’s permanent representative to the OSCE, Alexander Lukashevich has expressed concern over what he described as a lack of progress on a number of tracks in settling the Transnistrian conflict, adding that Russia remained a diligent mediator and guarantor of this process.

"The lack of progress in a number of specific areas in the Transnistrian settlement, including in the framework of the "Berlin-plus" package, is a matter of concern. Russia will continue to act in good faith as a mediator and guarantor for the Transnistrian settlement," Lukashevich tweeted on Wednesday.

He stressed that "regretfully, no meeting of the Permanent Conference on Political Issues in the Framework of the Negotiation Process for the Transnistrian Settlement in the ‘5+2’ format has taken place this year."

At the "5+2" talks in Berlin in 2016 and Vienna in 2017, the sides came to terms on many conflict issues. The process was later stalled against the background of Moldova’s election campaigns since 2019. In 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, the sides failed to conduct any rounds of talks. A number of agreements between the two banks of the Dniester remained suspended. At the beginning of June, representatives from the mediators — Russia, Ukraine, and the OSCE and also US and EU monitors visited Chisinau and Tiraspol to stress the need for resuming the negotiating process.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference on November 17 following talks with Moldova’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Nicolae Popescu that Moscow had taken note of Chisinau’s interest in the prompt resumption of the "5+2" Transnistrian settlement talks. The leader of the self-proclaimed Transnistrian Moldovan Republic Vadim Krasnoselsky told TASS in an interview on December 13 that Tiraspol was open to a dialogue with Chisinau and insisted on its resumption. Moldova’s President Maia Sandu earlier said that she had no plans for meeting with Transnistrian leaders.