Self-styled Transnistria celebrates independence day

Transnistria marks its unrecognized 18-year independence on September 2. Military parades and manifestations take place in Tiraspol and all the towns in the area, and, at 9 o'clock, they will watch fireworks, Info-Prim Neo's correspondent in the area reports. The ceremonies started in the morning by laying flowers at the Fallen Heroes in the Second World War and in 1992. Deputations from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Abkhazia and South Ossetia take part in the celebrations. On the eve of the 18th anniversary of the proclamation of the independence from Moldova, the leader Igor Smirnov told journalists “the optimal variant to solve the situation linked to settling the Nistru conflict is Moldova's recognizing Transnistria.” According to Igor Smirnov, Tiraspol further pleads for Transnistria's independence, “which is the will of the people expressed in the 2006 referendum.” “All the more that Russia, recognizing the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, has highlighted the priority of the peoples' expressing their consent in deciding such issues,” he said. Igor Smirnov also rejected “speculations of some Russian officials” that Transnistria would be ready to return to considering the Kozak Memo. “You cannot unite two societies which have lived separated and generations not knwoing one another have grown on the Nistru's banks,” Smirnov added. Transnistria's self-proclaiming its independence unleashed a new conflict in the ex-Soviet area, about which most of independent analysts and authorities of a number of states say it is steered by the Kremlin. In 1992 the Transnistrian crisis degenerated into a military clashes that ended after a couple of months. Despite a number of attempts, the Transnistrian conflict remains unsettled.