“The Transnistrian dispute is not a conflict between the project to build the state Moldova within the borders of the former Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic and Russia's political interests when the society does not have an interest in this problem,” considers Transnistrian dispute expert Oazu Nantoi. The analyst said the armed conflict on the Nistru broke out as a result of the barbarous policy towards the population of the MSSR implemented by the former Soviet regime after 1940”. “When we declared our independence, we did not know how to govern the country using the instruments of a state of law and of democracy. It is regretful that 18 years later the Transnistrian dispute is not the focus of attention anymore,” Oazu Nantoi told Info-Prim Neo. According to Nantoi, the talks between Chisinau and Tiraspol are a nonsense. “Who do we negotiate with? With Igor Smirnov who is a criminal and had delayed the resolution of the conflict for 20 years?” Oazu Nantoi asked. As to the present administration of Moldova, the analyst said it will be engaged in a long electoral campaign and will not hurry to work out long-term strategies for solving the conflict. “I welcome the involvement of the U.S. and the EU in the implementation of social projects that should erode the regime in the Transnistrian region. The people living on the two banks of the Nistru will start to communicate and will be free from the control of the Transnistrian authorities. For the dispute to be resolved, we should not be ashamed of what we have on the right bank,” Oazu Nantoi said. On March 2, it is 18 years of the start of the Nistru war for defending Moldova's independence and territorial integrity. 29,000 people took part in the war. 3,402 of them represented the Ministry of the Interior. 286 persons were killed, while 289 remained disabled.