The Speaker of the Romanian Senate, Nicolae Ciucă, this morning had a meeting in Bucharestwith the Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration of the neighboring Republic of Moldova (ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian speaking population), Oleg Serebrian. On the eve, he had declared that the pro-Russian separatist region of Transnistria, in the east of the republic, benefits from the policies promoted by the pro-Western government in Chișinău for peace, security and economic integration with the European Union, advantageous for all citizens. Previously, the so-called congress of deputies from Tiraspol adopted a resolution in which it addresses the Russian Parliament, asking it to take the necessary measures to protect Transnistria, in the context of the amplification of what the signatories called the pressure from the Republic of Moldova. The Russian Foreign Ministry claims that for Moscow it is a „priority to protect” the inhabitants of Transnistria. Russia will „carefully examine” Tiraspol’s request – the Russian Foreign Ministry stated, without providing more details. The United States firmly supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova within its internationally recognized borders – said, in response, the spokesperson for the State Department, Matthew Miller. Transnistria de facto went out of the control of the central authorities after an armed conflict that resulted in hundreds of deaths and which ended following the intervention of Moscow’s troops on the side of the secessionist rebels in 1992, less than a year after Chișinău proclaimed its independence. The former Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, pledged to withdraw troops from Transnistria since the OSCE summit in Istanbul in 1999. About 1,500 soldiers and important Russian arsenals are said to still be there. According to analysts, the break-away region of Transnistria inaugurated the scenario for the subsequent separation, also with Russian support, of South Ossetia and Abkhazia from Georgia and Donbass from Ukraine.
