Parliament likely to send protest note to Russia

The ministerial summit did not adopt a final document for the third year in
a row because Russia refused to recognise the obligation it had assumed in 1999
regarding the withdrawal of its troops and ammunition from the Transnistrian
region of Moldova. Ru ssian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov blamed Moldova, saying
that some delegations tried to turn the problem raised by Chisinau into a guarantee
of success of the meeting.

"Thank God that the reason prevailed and this did not happen, especially
because the formulas proposed for Moldova were unacceptable. They salute Chisinau's
law on the Transnistrian region, which eliminates Tiraspol from talks. I think
that this was an a ttempt to block all the agreements on other issues. Thank
God that the delegations resisted to artificial attempts to make a connection
with really important problems on reformation of the OSCE and did not become
hostages of some artificially exaggerated matters that cannot be solved within
the OSCE," Lavrov said. Also, he claimed that Russia has honoured all its
commitments towards the OSCE regarding the withdrawal of ammunition from the
Transnistrian region of Moldova. As regards the remaining troops and ammunition,
Lavrov promised that they will be withdrawn, but made a connection between them
and the process of negotiations on the Transnistrian settlement.

At the same time, many member states of the OSCE regretted the failure of the
OSCE Ministerial Summit to adopt a final declaration for the third year in a
row. The United States and the British presidency of the European Union urged
Russia to respect its commitments and to withdraw its troops and ammunition
from Moldova.

The final document of the 1999 Istanbul summit calls for the withdrawal of
weapons stipulated by the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, while a distinct
article calls for pullout of troops from Moldova's eastern breakaway enclave
of Transnistria and a mmunition from depots in the region. - BASA-Press

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