TIRASPOL, May 14. /ITAR-TASS/. About 185,000 people in Moldova’s breakaway Transdniestrian Republic have signed an appeal for admission to Russia.

The document containing 185,000 signatures was handed over to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin in Tiraspol on May 9, Viorika Kokhtareva, Chairperson of the Union of Russian Communities told journalists on Wednesday, May 14.

According to the latest census, 555,000 people live in Transdniestria.

“Only a third of the population could sign up as it was an initiative of civil society and was quite brief, lasing only two weeks, and activists could not visit every home where, for example, elderly people or persons with disabilities live,” she said.

Most of the lists of signatures were brought to Russia by the Russian delegation led by Rogozin. However some were seized by the Moldovan authorities after his plane had not been allowed to fly over Romania and Ukraine and had had to land in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova.

The Moldovan authorities confirmed the seizure of the lists of signatures from the Russian plane to check their legitimacy.

“These materials were detained by competent bodies to examine them for compliance with effective legislation,” the Moldovan Foreign Ministry said.