“The Transnistrian conflict blocked Moldova's movement towards the EU. This dispute will have a weight when the Europeans take a decision on Moldova,” former Prime Minister of Moldova Valeriu Muravski said, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. Valeriu Muravski stressed that 18 years after the start of the Nistru war it is easier to analyze the steps taken by the former governments of Moldova. “The Government that I headed (1991-1992 – e.n.) proposed solutions to the Parliament, including adopting a law on the local public administration reform that would have given more rights and responsibilities to the local public authorities, including the Transnistrian ones. We suggested creating a free economic zone as we were losing control over the given territory,” Muravski said. The former Premier also said that while the official Chisinau was looking for solutions, the separatists in Transnistria blocked the Moldovan police commissariats in the region. “I don't think the situation would have changed if we had taken measures at that time. I say so because we must take into account a thing that became clearer over time – Russia's geopolitical interests in this region” he said. According to Muravski, the dispute couldn't have been avoided because when Moldova wanted to become independent, the Transnistrian region, where the Communist ideology dominated, tended to go back to the USSR. Valeriu Muravski praised the present government for its intention to renew the talks with Tiraspol even if it does not manage to for the time being, owing to the inheritance left by the former Communist government and the economic crisis in the country. “I'm almost sure the resolution of the dispute depends on two important factors: the political will of the great world powers the U.S., the EU and Russia, and the promotion of social, economic and political reforms in the country. If we had other living standards, other guarantees and other freedoms, the people living of the two banks of the Nistru would be closer,” Valeriu Muravski said. The former Premier voiced hope the dialogue with the Transnistrian authorities will be more constructive in 2-3 years, but stressed the right bank should become more attractive for the left bank so as to stimulate positive changes. On March 2, it is 18 years of the start of the Nistru war for defending Moldova's territorial integrity and independence. The war took the lives of 286 persons and left another 289 disabled.