The 5+2 negotiations for the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict must focus on two issues that had been removed by Moscow. The statement was made by the executive director of the Foreign Policy Association (APE) Victor Chirila during APE’s Press Club meeting on the topic “Transnistrian settlement step by step, but whereto?”, Info-Prim Neo reports. Victor Chirila argued that even though the Russian Federation contributed to the resumption of the 5+2 negotiations, it managed to remove from the agenda two important issues. The first is the withdrawal of Russian troops from the eastern districts and the second is the transformation of the Russian peacekeeping mission into a mission of civilian observers under international mandate and with the participation of important actors from the European Union. “A mission of civilian observers is able to contribute to bringing the two sides closer together, to facilitate the implementation of common infrastructure projects on both banks of the Nistru. A peacekeeping mission doesn’t have such a mandate and isn’t suited to such a task”, argued Victor Chirila. The APE executive director said these issues must be brought back in discussion within civil society and it must be insisted through international channels that these subjects are reintroduced in the 5+2 negotiations along the resolution of essential social-economic problems. The meeting of APE’s Press Club is organized with the support of German Foundation Friedrich Ebert.