Russian official pleads in favor of maintaining Russian presence in Transnistria

Peacekeeping forces must remain in Moldova's breakaway province of Transnistria until a viable settlement of the conflict is reached, Yury Mordvintsev, Russia's temporary charge d'affaires in Moldova said. According to RIA-Novosti news agency, quoted by Info-Prim Neo, Yury Mordvintsev declared at a rally marking the 14th anniversary of the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in the conflict zone, that the peacekeeping mission must continue as a guarantee of peace in the region until a stable and viable accord is reached. “We hear more often the calls of some politicians to withdraw the peacekeepers, saying that they fulfilled their mission and must go home, in order to be replaced with God knows whom or what. Things are not as simple as they seem to be”, the Russian official declared. According to him, at present there are no clear guarantees that the situation in the region will not worsen without the peace-keeping mission. “The lack of mutual trust of Chisinau and Tiraspol can not offer any certainty on the stability in the region” Mordvintsev said. In an interview offered to the Russian radio station „Eho Moskvy” while participating at the informal Summit of the CIS on July 22, the president of Moldova, Vladimir Voronin pleaded in favor of Russia’s peace-keeping mission withdrawal, which, according to the head of state, fulfilled its mission. He also spoke in favor of replacing them with military and civil observers after the total evacuation of the Russian munitions from the region. According to Voronin, it will constitute „the first serious step” in strengthening mutual trust.