Transnistrian border-guards deny Moldovan President to enter region

Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin was prevented from going to the Transnistrian region. Together with the Moldovan metropolitan he planned to take part in consecrating a church in his native village of Corjova, a Moldovan governmental official told Itar-Tass on Monday. When asked by Info-Prim Neo, the Presidential press service confirmed the incident. Border guards of the unrecognised republic said they had not received any instructions on Voronin’s trip from the Dniester region leader, Igor Smirnov. Since 2001 the Moldovan president has had no opportunity to visit his village, as Smirnov banned his entry after the relations between Tiraspol and Chisinau worsened. The ban was lifted on April 11, 2008, when Voronin and Smirnov with Russia’s mediation resumed the talks after a seven-year break. Then the Moldovan president visited the village, where the church was built on his own funds.