Russia conditions withdrawal of munitions from Transnistria in exchange for drafting a new version of “Transnistrian statute”

The Russian Foreign minister proposes a 3 stage way of unblocking the negotiation process of the Transnistrian problem, Valeri Keniakin the special representative of the Russian MFA for CIS countries issues. Russia’s standpoint is that at the moment it is proper to undertake all the necessary actions in order to resume the dialogue between Chisinau and Tiraspol, Keniakin declared. According to the official the first point of the Russian plan is “implementing the main agreement, without settling at the moment details between Moldova and Transnistria with the participation of mediators”. In order to fulfill this task it is needed to draft the statute of a new version of the “Transnistrian statute”. The ambassador said that the second point of the plan is finishing the process of evacuating the armament from Transnistria. “Russia took upon itself this engagement and it is ready to finish this process”, the official declared. If these engagements will be fulfilled, the Russian peace-keeping operations in Transnistria will be revised, Keniakin added. The “5+2” format negotiations in settling the Transnistrian dispute were halted at the end of February.