Experts think that the recent intensification of negotiations between Chisinau and Tiraspol has to do with Moldova's attempts to improve relations with Russia, while other say it's related to the right of Transnistrian companies to export to the EU, IPN reports.

During the Fabrika talk-show on Publika TV, Nicolae Afanas, department head at the Institute of International Relations, said that Chisinau is trying to use Transnistria to mend relations with Russia. “Transnistria is an antechamber for the government in Chisinau to fix relations with the Russian Federation. Moldova needs this to get access to the Russian market”, opined Afanas.

Corneliu Ciurea, expert at IDIS Viitorul, thinks that it is Tiraspol that wants to step up negotiations with Chisinau in order to have access to the European market. “The problems of Moldovan farmers and Romanian language schools aren't the top issues right now. Tiraspol will make a series of concessions. They fear that in 2016 Transnistrian companies won't be able to export directly to the EU and will have to use Moldova as an intermediary”, says Ciurea.

Vitali Catana, specialist in constitutional law, believes that it would be a mistake for Chisinau to use negotiations with Transnistria in order to return to the Eastern market. “There are other solutions. The country mustn't adjust its policies to the whims of a farmer who is friends with Igor Dodon. Chisinau has several ways to put Tiraspol in its right place. One of them is circulation restrictions in Moldova”, says Catana.

Anatol Caraman, head of the Association of 1992 War Veterans “Tiras-Tighina” is sure that negotiations between Chisinau and Tiraspol won't reach their goal. “I'm sure there will be no results. Tiraspol only wants to survive as a country and Russia simply hopes to expand its influence”, he said.