Ratifying CAFE treaty possible only after withdrawing Russian troops

The Moldovan authorities stated once again, at the meeting with the US State Secretary, Paula DeSutter, that ratifying the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CAFE), will become possible only after the withdrawal of the Russian troops and munitions from the territory of the Republic of Moldova, engagement taken in 1999 at the Istanbul summit. The American official, who visited Moldova at the end of this week, confirmed once again the position of the United States of America in the issue of Russian troops on Moldovan territory, opinion shared also by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The American stateswoman met with the president Vladimir Voronin, the deputy prime-minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Andrei Stratan, the Minister of Reintegration, Vasilii Sova and with the representatives of the Parliamentary faction. Within the meeting from the Presidency, Paula DeSutter stated once more the firm position of USA that the CAFE Treaty can not be ratified as long as one of the parts does not want to comply with the basic principles of this document, which stipulates that the stationing of foreign military forces without the consent of the host-state is interdicted. According to her, the visit to Chisinau is a clear presentation of the Washington’s point of view on the problem of fulfilling by the Russian Federation of the taken engagements. The visit of the high official places on the agenda of the Moldovan-American dialogue on international security and control of weapons and takes place before the Evaluation Conference of the Treaty, from Vienna, during May 29- June 2, 2006. The withdrawal of the Russian troops and munitions from Moldova constituted one of the topics discussed on May 26, at Tirana (Albania), at the annual meeting of Central European Initiative (CEI) Ministers of Foreign Affairs. The ministers plead in favour of resuming the talks regarding the Transistrian problem in “5+2” format, and emphasized that democratization of the Transnistrian region is important for settling once and for all this dispute. In this context, they especially welcomed the implementation of the Joint Moldovan-Ukrainian Declaration on December 30, 2005 and appreciated the role of the EU border assistance mission in supervising this process.