Igor Smirnov: Filat’s reaction points to disinterest in dialogue with Transnistria

The official Chisinau is not interested in having an intergovernmental dialogue with Transnistria, said the Transnistrian leader Igor Smirnov. He told a news conference that he has not yet received an answer to his invitation to visit Tiraspol from the Moldovan Premier. According to Igor Smirnov, Vlad Filat behaves like former head of state Vladimir Voronin, who preferred to communicate with Tiraspol through the agency of the mass media, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting the website of Novyi Reghion Agency. The Transnistrian leader said that unlike Chisinau, Tiraspol is in favor of a dialogue based on equality between the sides. He informed that the Transnistrian issue was raised during a number of official visits to Russia and Ukraine. OSCE officials are expected to pay a visit to Chisinau and Tiraspol on May 6. Igor Smirnov invited Vlad Filat to pay an official visit to Tiraspol by a letter that was transmitted by Transnistria’s representative to the negotiations Vladimir Yastrebcheak to Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Eugen Carpov, during the informal consultations held in Vienna on April 4. According to the Transnistrian side, the meeting was to take place in Bender on April 28. Asked then by the Chisinau press if he will accept the invitation, Vlad Filat said he is at home in the Transnistrian region. “I cannot pay an official visit in my own country,” he stated, adding he will meet with Smirnov when there is a well-defined schedule as regards the resumption of the official dialogue in the 5+2 format.