Transdniestrian President ready to sign Russian plan of regional settlement

Transdniestria will sign Russia's memorandum on the main principles of state structure of Moldova and Transdniestria's unified state, said Igor Smirnov, the leader of Transdniestria (a self-proclaimed republic in Moldova).

"At least, I am ready but I can realize my responsibility. However, I know that it will result in the stability of the Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic," Igor Smirnov told Russia's Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.

Smirnov is convinced that Russia as a guarantor of the Transdniestrian settlement will fulfill all its obligations. "I am confident of Russia. Otherwise, I would have never persuaded Transdniestrian citizens of the importance of this document," he stressed.

Russia's document covers the problems as a whole, "including a package of management, a package of mutual obligations and a package of guarantees" and "combines interests of both sides," Smirnov noted.

"To tell you the truth, we wanted more but we are satisfied with the new status of Transdniestria. Nobody will acknowledge us now. We exist and don't exist at the same time. This memorandum precisely defines such notion as the Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic having its constitution and government. It gives us a legal possibility to exist," said the Transdniestrian president.

On November 15 the Russian Foreign Ministry submitted the plan of the formation of the Federative Republic of Moldova to the Moldovan and Transdniestrian authorities, the OSCE and Ukraine as co-sponsors of the settlement.