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Moscow, Chisinau to discuss Transnistria when new cabinet is stable - Russia's deputy PM

According to Kozak, Chisinau showed its sincere willingness to resume cooperation with Russia

MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/. Russia could resume talks on Transnistria once Moldova’s new government regains stability, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak told reporters on Wednesday after the Russian-Moldovan talks.

"At the talks we agreed that the government (led by new Prime Minister Ion Chicu - TASS) should regain stability. Political stability is needed. As soon as this government regains this stability and political confidence in the future, it is possible that we will resume talks on a complicated, sensitive and protracted issue of the Transnistria crisis," Kozak said.

He pointed out that a pragmatic and constructive attitude of Moldova’s new government was noticeable during the talks. According to Kozak, Chisinau showed its sincere willingness to resume cooperation with Russia.

"We see considerable cause for optimism that we will be able to restore mutually beneficial relations of good neighbors," Kozak said.

Moldova and Transnistria

Transnistria, a largely Russian-speaking region, broke away from Moldova following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Its relations with Moldova’s central government in Chisinau have been highly mixed and extremely tense at times ever since then. In 1992 and 1993, tensions erupted into a bloody armed conflict that claimed the lives of hundreds of people on both sides.

The fratricidal war was stopped after a peace agreement was signed in Moscow in 1992 and Russian peacekeepers were brought into the conflict area. Negotiations on the conflict’s peace settlement known as the 5+2 format talks (involving Moldova and Transnistria as parties to the conflict, Russia, Ukraine and the European security watchdog OSCE as mediators and the United States and the European Union as observers) started after that.