A Moldovan language and culture center was opened at “Taras Shevchenko” University in Tiraspol at the suggestion of the Moldovan language department's chair Andrei Hropotinski and with support from the Union of Moldovans in Transnistria. The opening ceremony was attended by the Transnistrian leader Igor Smirnov, the heads of local ethnic communities and consultants of the embassies of Ukraine and Russia in Moldova, Info-Prim Neo's correspondent in Tiraspol reports. Andrei Hropotinski stressed they plan to issue soon a newspaper in Moldovan and to create a website. The center will provide Moldovan language courses based on multimedia technologies and organize meetings with the Moldovans living in the Transnistrian region. Igor Smirnov said the center will work to preserve the traditions of the Moldovan people who constitute 31.9% of Transnistria's population. The chairman of the Union of Moldovans in Transnistria Valerian Tulgara said the opening of the center was a sign that the Moldovan language continues to develop. The Transnistrian administration allocated 100,000 rubles (153,000 lei) for outfitting the center with the necessary equipment. Note: The breakaway republic of Transnistria is not recognized as an independent entity and is considered component part of the Republic of Moldova. The official Chisinau lost control over this territory after the Nistru armed conflict of 1992.