CHISINAU, March 14. /TASS/. The thwarted terror attack against the OSCE delegation to Transnistria was meant to cause negative political consequences for the unrecognized republic, Transnistrian Foreign Minister Vitaly Ignatyev said on Tuesday.
"It might have been a terrific, negative hype, which would be aimed against Transnistria in any case because we were discussing peaceful way of settling the situation during our meetings. <…> They were meant to deprive Transnistria of normal participation in talks and to minimize our possibilities in terms of international contacts," he said.
According to Ignatyev, the meeting with the OSCE delegation focused on ways of invigorating talks on the Transnistrian settlement in various formats. "Probably, someone doesn’t like the peaceful position of international representatives, including the OSCE," he said, adding that the Transnistrian authorities have enhanced security measures and protection of foreign diplomats, including employees of the OSCE office in Tiraspol.
Transnistria’s Prosecutor General Anatoly Guretsky said earlier on Tuesday that a terrorist attack targeting an OSCE delegation was plotted to be staged near the Bender Fortress on February 14, when the delegation was to be on their way back to Chisinau. The delegation of around 20 people, which included Bujar Osmani, North Macedonian Foreign Minister and the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Thomas Harting, the OSCE Special Representative for the Transnistrian Settlement Process, and Kelly Keiderling, the head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova. Two suspects were detained and are now working with the prosecution. Transnistrian President Vadim Krasnoselsky said that the act of sabotage had been sanctioned and hatched by the Ukrainian Security Service.