The 7.7 kilometer-long portion of the Odessa-Reni road near the village of Palanca and the 900 hectares of land lying along the road will not be alienated by Moldova to Ukraine, even if they are conceded on paper, Moldovan Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Popov told a press briefing on Friday, Info-Prim Neo reports. Popov displayed a set of materials during the briefing demonstrating that the disputed territory has been an issue of negotiations between Chisinau and Kiev since 1991. “Why speculate further on this subject, criticizing Moldova for ceding territories and losing sovereignty over them, when the additional protocol to the Moldovan-Ukrainian Border Treaty, transferring that portion of the road and the land to the ownership of Ukraine, was ratified in July 2001 by Eugenia Ostapciuc (Moldova's speaker at the time)”, declared Andrei Popov. Popov says that in order to improve relations with Ukraine, the sides have to settle to major issues: the demarcation process and the ownership relations.