TIRASPOL, August 23. /TASS/. The unrecognized Republic of Transnistria will continue to seek Moldova’s refusal to establish control over its borders despite the launch of the first checkpoint, Transnistria’s Foreign Minister Vitaly Ignatiev said on Wednesday following meeting with Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister Gheorghe Balan in the city of Bender.

"If someone has any illusions that this issue will not be discussed, I assure you that it will be discussed at all levels of the negotiation process until the restrictions are removed," Ignatiev said, adding that a note of protest was handed over to Moldova’s representative on Wednesday.

In May 2017, first representatives of Moldova’s border guard and customs services appeared on the Transnistrian segment of the border, which is not controlled by Chisinau. They are located at the Ukrainian checkpoint Kuchurgan-Pervomaisk, which handles more than 70% of all trade operations in Transnistria. If everything goes off well, Moldova plans to extend this practice to the rest of the border with the assistance from Ukraine and the European Union.

Tiraspol fears that Chisinau will be able to put pressure on the region by controlling its foreign trade operations. In light of this, Transnistrian President Vadim Krasnoselsky warned that the emergence of the Moldovan military in close proximity to the areas whereTransnistria’s troops are deployed is fraught with the escalation of the conflict, as there are no Russian peacekeepers on this segment of the border.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has voiced concern over the escalation of tensions and called for convening a new round of "five plus two" talks (Moldova, Transnistria, OSCE, Russia, Ukraine and observers from the US and the EU) at an early date.