Chisinau is taking a tougher stance on Transnistria

On 28 October 2014, during a meeting in Tiraspol with Ambassador Radojko Bogojević, the OSCE’s special envoy for the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict, Nina Shtanski, the head of the so-called Foreign Ministry of Transnistria, concluded that there were no grounds to resume meetings in the 5+2 negotiation format (Moldova and Transnistria as the conflicting parties, and the USA, the EU, the OSCE, Russia and Ukraine as mediators). The last meeting in this format was held in June 2014. The main obstacles Shtanski cited included court proceedings launched against Transnistrian officials by Chisinau (for example, against the ‘prime minister’ of Transnistria, the presiding judge of the Supreme Court and the ‘minister’ of agriculture); the Moldovan government withholding the issue of export certificates for Transnistrian companies trading with Russia; the problems Transnistrian officials have encountered during flight transfers at Chisinau airport; the ban on entry to Moldova imposed on the director of the Transnistrian branch of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (RISI); Ukraine taking a tougher stance on Tiraspol, and other matters. Shtanski also made it clear that Tiraspol will remain open to direct dialogue with Chisinau, at the level of both political representatives and expert groups.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Moldova's Trans-Dniester region pleads to join Russia http://www.europeansources.info/record/moldovas-trans-dniester-region-pleads-to-join-russia/

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