CHISINAU, February 28. /TASS/. The participants of the congress of deputies of all levels in Transnistria expressed their support to the peacekeeping operation on Dniester under Russia’s aegis, says the statement, adopted after the convention.
"We underscored the immutable importance of the peacekeeping mission on Dniester, which enjoys a huge support among the people of not only Transnistria, but neighboring Moldova as well. The peacekeeping operation must continue until the final and fair settlement of the conflict, despite Moldova’s any political demarches and attempts to destroy the basic peace agreement, signed on July 21, 1992," the document reads.
Russian peacekeepers were deployed to the zone of combat operations in Transnistria in late July of 1992 under an agreement on peaceful settlement of the armed conflict in Moldova’s Transnistrian region. The move helped stop the confrontation between the Moldovan police and Transnistrian militias. Currently, peace in the region is being maintained by Russian, Moldovan, and Transnistrian peacekeepers, and a team of Ukrainian military observers.
Apart from that, the Russian military is tasked to ensure the security of depots in Cobasna that hold more than 20,000 tons of munitions that were put in storage there after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from European countries. A weapons and munitions withdrawal and disposal campaign started in 2001, but in 2004 the Transnistrian authorities cut it short following a deterioration in relations with Moldova.
Meanwhile, Chisinau insists on the withdrawal of the Russian group of forces and calls for replacing the peacekeepers with a civilian mission under an international mandate. However, Tiraspol recalls that back in 1992 such a mission had failed to prevent an armed conflict, as more than 1,000 lives were lost and tens of thousands were wounded.