The Transnistrian leader Vadim Krasnoselski does not find it opportune to have the meeting that was preliminarily scheduled for this December with President Igor Dodon. According to him, the high-level meetings are justified only if there is a complete and topical agenda. “There is no such an agenda at present,” stated Vadim Krasnoselski, being quoted on the website of the so-called Transnistrian presidential institution, IPN reports.
Vadim Krasnoselski had a meeting with the chief negotiator of Tiraspol to the Transnistrian settlement process Vitaly Ignatiev to inform himself about the activity of the working groups that met recently. Vitaly Ignatiev reported the lack of progress in dropping the cases against Transnistrian officials despite the commitments assumed by the negotiators last November. He said the telecommunications problem also remained stagnant. For three years, the problem of supply of fuel and ensuring of the plenary activity of the Transnistrian railways in the northern part of the region hasn’t been dealt with. Non-tariff barriers still exist and the Transnistrian railway company is unable to fully realize its potential.
After listening to the report, Vadim Krasnoselski confirmed the backsliding in implementing the agreements assumed by the participants in the negotiation process. “We do not say the mechanism does not work. For now, we haven’t achieved the expected result. It is very important to raise topical subjects, as we did not only once on the platform of the 5+2 format negotiations that, besides the Transnistrian and Moldova sides, also involve mediators of Russia and Ukraine and observers of the OSCE, EU and U.S.,” he stated.
According to the Transnistrian leader, the problems discussed in the 5+2 format talks and by the working groups are not within the remit of the President of Moldova and it is thus no use discussing them with Igor Dodon. “The President of Moldova should have the own agenda, different from that of the 5+2 format. As long as there is no such an agenda, I consider it is not inopportune to have the meeting for the sake of the meeting,” said Vadim Krasnoselski.
Contacted by IPN to obtain a reaction from the presidential institution, the President’s spokesman Maxim Lebedinski, presidential adviser on justice and institutional relations, said he cannot comment on the given statements made by the Transnistrian leader because Igor Dodon is not in the country and a comment in his absence is not appropriate.
Igor Dodon and Vadim Krasnoselski met last at the State Residence in Condrița on September 6 this year. The meeting was held to continue the dialogue aimed at building confidence and maintaining stability in the Security Zone on the Nistru. Also then, the President said the next meeting will take place in December. President Dodon mentioned the same period in a news conference given after the visit he paid to Moscow during October 31 - November 1.