Voronin Worries Russian Choices May Hamper Agreements

President of Moldova Vladimir Voronin is concerned that Russia's motion to cease its membership in the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty might hamper implementation of the Moldovan-Russian agreements on the Transdnestr conflict settlement. The Moldovan president made the statement at a news conference in Chisinau today, reports a REGNUM correspondent.

The Moldovan leader stressed that from its side, the Republic of Moldova is interested in immediate renewal of talks on the Transdnestr settlement in the 5+2 format (Moldova and Transdnestr as parties, Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE as mediators and the EU and the USA as observers) to elaborate a permanent conflict solution.

Vladimir Voronin confirmed unchanged position of the Moldovan leadership regarding unification of Moldova on the basis of the current law on the status of the Transdnestr area. At the same time, the Moldovan president called "cries aimed at scaring away Moldova's Western partners" recent information in Moldovan and Western media about "a secret plan of Transdnestr settlement." "Such reports appear every time, when we approach solution of the Transdnestr problem," Vladimir Voronin pointed out.

As REGNUM reported earlier, Western and Moldovan media reported that there are secret talks held between Russia and Moldova about Transdnestr conflict settlement, in accordance with which "Moldova can be brought back to the Russian sphere of influence."

The bilateral agreements allegedly envisage that Moldovan and Transdnestr Presidents Vladimir Voronin and Igor Smirnov would sign a joint declaration on parallel self-dissolving of the Moldovan Parliament and the Transdnestr Supreme Council and calling for new parliamentary elections. After that, according to the sources, by the end of 2007 separate elections are to be held simultaneously in Moldova and Transdnestr.

The Moldovan parliament is supposed to give 18-19 seats to MPs from Transdnestr. Transdnestr will reportedly be represented at the central Moldavan government by first deputy prime minister and deputy ministers for each ministry delegated by Tiraspol.

The decree to suspend the CFE Treaty was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 14. According to the decree, the decision was caused by exclusive circumstances regarding the contents of the CFE Treaty of November 19, 1990 that concern Russia's security and claim for immediate measures." Earlier, in May, Moscow imposed moratorium on the treaty until it is ratified by all NATO member-countries.

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