Moves Towards Transdnestria Settlement to Be Stepped Up

Very soon negotiations towards settlement of the Transdnestria conflict will be stepped up, Vasili Sturza said in an exclusive RIA Novosti interview. Sturza is the representative of the Moldovan president at the Transdnestria negotiations.

Sturza explained the need for stepping up the talks by the Transdnestria problem being in discussion at a recent informal Kiev summit of the heads of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

"Meetings in the five-party format with the involvement of representatives of Moldova, Transdnestria and the mediation of delegations of Russia, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will be held once a month and in the two-party format once a week", he said.

"We have no time to waste. In the last half year we've met 18 times to consider the OSCE project for settlement. Last week Tiraspol said for the first time it was ready to tackle the project", said Sturza.

"We've gone a long way, with active assistance from Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE mission, to propose an acceptable wording for the first article of the draft agreement between Moldova and Transdnestria", he noted.

The draft reads that "Moldova and Transdnestria make up a territorially integral, democratic and law-governed state".

Tiraspol has agreed with the wording but now its representatives insist that the clause on Moldova and Transdnestria as a treaty-bound federation of two equal entities should determine authorities in forming the organs of power and grass-roots organs, decisions on the judicial system and other important questions.

"This is utterly unacceptable and in that the mediators back Chisinau", said Sturza.