Voronin and Putin meet after 3 years’ pause

Russian President Vladimir Putin received on Tuesday, August 8 in the Kremlin his Moldovan counterpart Vladimir Voronin, for the first time in three and a half years. Voronin arrived in Moscow on a one-day working visit. The Transnistrian conflict settlement is the main subject of the talks, Itar-Tass Press Agency, quoted by Info-Prim Neo informs. According to the quoted source, the two leaders shook hands stating they were glad to meet. Voronin has not been in Moscow since 2003, after Moldova refused to sign the Russian-proposed Transnistrian settlement memorandum. Opening talks Putin said that "he is very glad that the accords on a bilateral meeting, reached during the informal CIS summit on July 21-22, are being fulfilled" and that they will have the opportunity to discuss the whole range of bilateral relations, and, naturally, the most acute problem in the region - the Transnistrian settlement," Voronin declared that "there is much argument and talk around Moldovan-Russian relations, but talking is not always done by those who resolve these issues". Talks between the two head of states continued with the doors closed. According to the quoted source, Moscow believes that the solution of the issue concerning the fixing of property rights of the Russian companies which are represented in the republic would be "a considerable reserve in reviving economic ties, which would undoubtedly improve Moldova’s investment attractiveness." The Russian press said previously that Voronin could make such a proposal to his Russian counterpart with the only condition that he withdraws the Russian troops and munitions from Transnistria. Another subject would be unblocking the “wine crisis”, consequence of the embargo applied by Russia to the Moldovan wine production. At the same time the Russian press writes that Moscow would be interested in the agreement of the Republic of Moldova on Russia’s adhering to World Trade Organization. Voronin, on the eve of the CIS informal summit, said Moldova was dissatisfied with the current status of relations with Russia. The greater part of the problems both countries are faced with stem from the unresolved Transnistrian crisis, Voronin said then. Moscow was the first destination abroad that Vladimir Voronin visited upon election to the post of president in 2001. Until 2003, Russia was the most frequent destination of his foreign tours. During the last 3.5 years, Voronin visited Moscow only for participating in multilateral forums without having though a tête-à-tête meeting with the Russian president.