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Moldovan deputy Prime Minister Victor Osipov: â€œTransdniestrian problem threatens not only Moldova, but whole Europeâ€

28 May 2010 12:52 (UTC +04:00)

The conflict is seriously threatening the country and has a negative impact on politicsâ€, said Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister for reintegration and negotiator on the conflict solution Victor Osipov, APA correspondent reports from Chisinau.

Osipov said the Transdniestrian administration was enhancing armament and its security agencies. He said the separatist regime took keen position against Chisinau.

The Deputy Prime Minister said Moldova was a neighbor of the European Union and therefore the Transdniestrian problem was threatening not only Moldova, but whole Europe. â€œThis issue must be solved for the European securityâ€.

He said official negotiations over the Transdniestrian problem was suspended in March, 2006, but informal talks of the format 5+2 were continued. â€œWhile coming to power, the new forces said that the talks with pro-European national government would create problems. 4-5 meetings were held in this format last November. The last meeting took place in Astana earlier this week. As a Moldovan negotiator, I can say that we aim to hold official negotiations. I meet with the political figures of the Transdnestrian regime every month and conduct bilateral negotiations with the sides of 5+2 format. The consultations make the sides closer. Only Transdniestrian regime is against the official negotiations. Other sides of 5+2 format â€“ Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, OSCE and EU advocate for the official format of the negotiations and solution of the problem within the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Moldovaâ€.

Regarding the presence of Russian troops in Transdniestria, Osipov said Chisinau was demanding withdrawal of the Russian troops from Moldovan territory. â€œThe government of Moldova considers that Russian peacemakers should be replaced by the international civil peacekeepers under the auspices of the OSCE. We demand withdrawal of Russian troops and arms from Transdniestria. According to the agreements, most part of the troops and arms were withdrawn, but we want the commitments to be fulfilled completely. Moldova doesnâ€™t want foreign troops in its territory.â€

Mentioning the character of the conflict, Osipov said the Transdniestrian problem was different from other conflicts. â€œThere are not fundamental discords between us. It makes our work easy that the conflict has no religious, national or ethnic character. This problem was raised to keep the new independent countries under the control. The Transdniestria is a Soviet state in south-eastern Europeâ€.

Evaluating the proposal of separatist Transdniestrian regime to establish federation, Osipov said Chisinau excluded such version. â€œThey can dream that, but nobody proposes them federation. The conflict can be solved within the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Moldova and large autonomous opportunities for Transdniestria. All parts support just this way. There is no question about the federation or confederationâ€.

Regarding the Transdniestriaâ€™s statement on deployment of Russian anti-missile system in its territory if US system is deployed in Romania, Osipov said: â€œWe negotiated this issue with Romania. Bucharest said that deployment of the US anti-missile system in Romania didnâ€™t target any country. This is guarantee for the Romaniaâ€™s security only. Russia said that it didnâ€™t make such proposal. This is a statement by the separatist regime only. No foreign forces can be deployed in the territory of Moldova without permission of Chisinau. Transdniestria is a Moldovan territory and it should accept this conditionâ€.