CHISINAU, July 29. /TASS/. Transnistria has not changed its mind and does not intend to integrate into the European Union together with Moldova, the president of the unrecognized republic, Vadim Krasnoselsky has told TASS in an interview. He was commenting on the referendum on EU accession, to be held on October 20 in one package with the presidential election at the suggestion of Moldovan President Maia Sandu.
"Personally, I have sincere respect for other people's choices. If they decide to integrate into the European Union, if the Moldovan citizens declare this intention - God bless them, if everything works and benefits them and their country. Transnistria has not changed its benchmarks, plans and values and it is moving in the chosen direction. This is precisely the democracy that Europe has been pressing for," the Transnistrian leader said.
"Anyone in his right mind knows well enough that three and a half decades of separation is not a family quarrel. These are two separately lived lives. Generations of representatives of the multiethnic Transnistrian people and the people living in Moldova have grown up," he added.
Earlier, Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Cristina Gerasimov admitted that her country had been invited to the EU as a unitary state and the Transnistrian problem would have to be resolved first for joining the EU.
Transnistria was created in September 1990 on the territory of the left bank of the Dniester River with a predominantly Russian-speaking population, who opposed the radical Moldovan politicians’ drive for secession from the Soviet Union and unification with Romania. In 1992, after a failed attempt by Chisinau to solve the problem by force, the Moldovan authorities lost control over the left-bank districts. Since then, the parties have been negotiating a settlement and relations, including those on the "five plus two" platform, with Russia, Ukraine, and the OSCE acting as mediators and guarantors, and the EU and the US as observers.
In 2005, the Moldovan parliament, without prior consultations with Tiraspol, adopted a law defining the future status of Transnistria within a united Moldova. In 2006, Tiraspol responded with its own referendum: 97% voted for independence from Moldova and subsequent accession to Russia. The parties’ antagonistic positions complicated negotiations on the political formula for future relations between Chisinau and Tiraspol.