Political representatives in the Transnistrian settlement talks are due to meet in a "1+1" format on Friday. For now it is not clear where the meeting will take place, as Tiraspol insists it should be on the left bank of the Dniester, while Chisinau has refused and proposed the OSCE headquarters in the capital. Under these circumstances, it is not excluded that the talks will take place online, IPN reports.
Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Oleg Serebrian told the press that the initiative for the "1+1" format came from Chisinau and the meeting should have taken place on January 9. However, the very next day, the Transnistrian side asked for the meeting to take place in Tiraspol and also came up with the agenda for the meeting.
"We consider that we should discuss strictly on humanitarian issues. We have no political issues to discuss now. We are talking about the access of ambulances from the right side of the Dniester to the left side, the readiness of hospitals to receive patients who are in very serious situation from the left side of the Dniester to the right side, how we distribute humanitarian aid, what channels we use, what is needed, because so and so did not receive a list," the deputy prime minister said.
Tiraspol insists that the meeting should take place on the left bank of the Dniester, with members of the Transnistrian delegation claiming they do not feel safe in Chisinau. On the other side, Deputy Prime Minister Serebrian assures them that there is no danger in Chisinau. He also sees no problem if the meeting is held online.
Tiraspol leader Vadim Krasnoselski, back from the Russian Federation, announced today that Russian gas deliveries to the Transnistrian region would be resumed in the form of humanitarian aid, but did not specify an exact date when this would happen. Krasnoselski denied, as before, that he had any offers of help from Chisinau to get out of the energy crisis the region is facing after gas supplies were cut off on January 1. In earlier statements, the Transnistrian leader said that there had been no official letter from the Moldovan leadership with offers of help, and that the letters sent by Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Serebrian, fragments of which have also appeared in the public space, were imbued with hatred towards the Transnistrians.