BRUSSELS, June 26. /ITAR-TASS/. No breakthrough in talks on Transdniestrian settlement should be expected before the parliamentary election in Moldova, Moldovan Prime Minister Iurie Leanca said in Brussels on Thursday.

“I would not expect breakthroughs before the Moldovan election,” he said, adding that the developments under way in the region “don’t create conditions for progress”.

However, Chisinau is setting the task for the near future “to make steps towards enhancing trust with Tiraspol through direct negotiations and consultations through mediators,” he said.

Leanca arrived in Brussels for the signing of an association agreement with the European Union, expected on June 27 on the sidelines of a European Union summit.

 

The Transdniestrian conflict

The Transdniestrian conflict started in March 1992 when the first clashes occurred between Moldovan police and Transdniestrian militia near the city of Dubossary, which were followed by an outbreak of armed hostilities. By summer, it had developed into large-scale fighting in Bendery, where about a thousand people were killed and tens of thousands were wounded and became refugees.

The fratricidal war was stopped after a peace agreement was signed in Moscow in July of the same year and Russian peacekeepers were brought into the conflict area.

Since then, they have been guarding peace and calm in the region, together with their Moldovan and Transdniestria colleagues, thus allowing Chisinau and Tiraspol to conduct negotiations on the settlement of the conflict around the breakaway republic.

The parliamentary election in Moldova is due at the end of the year.