Analyst Radu Vrabie: Moldova must sign no document related to settling Transnistrian conflict, unless it is backed by all 5+2 format members

After the consultation in the 3+2 format in Vienna on 8 September, the mediators and the observers agreed to resume the 5+2 talks in the near future. If that meeting takes place, it will represent a good starting point to discuss the issues amassed in relation to the Transnistrian conflict lately, Radu Vrabie, a program coordinator with the Foreign Policy Association (FPA), has told Info-Prim Neo. According to the analyst, the most important event is that the USA and the EU said they would not back a document signed in the 2+1 format (Moldova – Transnistria + Russia) and that a document on settling the Transnistrian conflict can be signed only in the 5+2 format. At the same time, the Tiraspol administration states that leader Igor Smirnov and Moldovan president Vladimir Voronin can meet in September – early October. After that, the date for a new meeting is to be set, in a trilateral format, attended by Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. Radu Vrabie says Russia and Transnistria probably expect more results in the 2+1 talks. The expert says a meeting in that format won't hinder the continuation of consultations. Yet, Moldova shall not pay any document unless it is supported by the other members of the 5+2 format, the analyst considers. Radu Vrabie thinks a document coming from Russia, drafted in the trilateral format, will not bring a viable solution for Moldova. “Now Moldova needs more than ever both a cohesion of all the domestic forces, and support from outside. That is why it is so important for Moldova that all the documents to be signed to settle the Transnistrian conflict should as transparent as possible and should be made known to all the mediators and observers in the 5+2 format,” Radu Vrabie says.