Mihai Ghimpu seeks NATO support in withdrawing Russian troops from Transnistria

Acting President Mihai Ghimpu sent a letter to the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Anders Fogh Rasmussen, asking him to provide support in the pullout of the Russian troops from the Transnistrian region. Mihai Ghimpu expresses his certitude that the withdrawal will create preconditions for peacefully settling the Transnistrian dispute, Info-Prim Neo reports. In a press briefing on November 12, the Acting President said the letter to the NATO Secretary General was sent in the context of the discussions on the revitalization of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE Treaty) and the OSCE Summit that will take place in Astana this December. In his letter, Mihai Ghimpu says that Russia pledged to withdraw its troops and munitions from the Transnistrian region at the Istanbul OSCE Summit of 1999, but did not do it, violating thus the international law norms and the Constitution of Moldova. They are a permanent source of danger to Moldova’s security and a source that fuels the separatism in Transnistria, he said, adding the foreign military presence undermines the international community’s efforts to peacefully resolve the Transnistrian dispute. The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe was signed in Paris on 19 November 1990 in order to establish parity, transparency, and stability in the balance of conventional military forces and equipment in an area of Europe stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ural Mountains. The treaty established equal lower levels for five categories of offensive conventional armaments, including battle tanks, armored combat vehicles, artillery, combat aircraft and attack helicopters.