Transdniestria Meeting Mafioso Interests?

Russia's peacekeepers in unrecognized Transdniestria Republic should be replaced by the multinational civil mission, Moldova's Foreign Minister Andrei Stratan announced from the UN rostrum.

Russia's troops stay in Moldova against the will of the country, the minister said, emphasizing that it prevents Moldova from strengthening security. The unsettled conflict with Transdniestria, Stratan went on, meets "political and Mafioso interests of some foreign powers." The minister, however, didn't name the states he was referring to in the United Nations.

Peacekeepers of Russia, Moldova and Transdniestria have been in the conflict area since 1992, i.e. since the end of the military standoff between Chisinau and Tiraspol.

Stratan's speech in the UN is not the first effort of Moldova targeted at withdrawal of Russia's troops. In July of 2006, for instance, Moldova's President Vladimir Voronin urged Moscow to pull peacekeepers out of Transdniestria, promising not to host the NATO bases in return.

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