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Russia sees no separatist sentiment among Transnistrian leadership — Lavrov

It is reported that the 'five plus two' format was frozen

MOSCOW, March 28./TASS/. Russia sees no separatist moods among the leadership of the unrecognized Transnistria, as they remain firmly committed to the agreements signed within the ‘five plus two’ format, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with TASS on Tuesday.

"Speaking about the overall situation in Transnistria, it has certainly degraded as a result of the policy that the Moldovan government, led by President [Maia] Sandu, decided to pursue. This policy is openly anti-Russian, anti-Transnistrian, if you will," the top diplomat said.

"Legislatively, punishment has been introduced for the so-called separatism. But we don’t see separatist sentiment in Transnistria; we see the Transnistrian leadership’s strong desire to comply with their commitments in the ‘five plus two’ format, and which are aimed at a full, mutually acceptable settlement of Transnistria’s status," Lavrov added.

The ‘five plus two’ format was frozen, in fact, he noted. This was due in large part to "the policy of the West which decided to take the ‘settlement’ into its own hands, impose this settlement on Tiraspol, and fully support the confrontational, short-sighted, dead-end policy of President Sandu," he pointed out.