Transdniestrian settlement impossible without Russian troop withdrawal - Moldovan defense minister
CHISINAU. July 25 (Interfax) - Moldovan Defense Minister Anatol Salaru has said that the settlement of the conflict in Transdniestria is impossible without the withdrawal of the Russian contingent from the self-proclaimed Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic.
"The main problem for Moldova lies not so much in the unsettled Transdniestrian conflict which hinders the republic's development as in the unlawful presence of Russian troops in the Transdniestrian region. The withdrawal of Russian troops is a mandatory condition of the settlement of the Transdniestrian conflict," he said at a Monday meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Stepan Poltorak as quoted by the press service of the Moldovan Defense Ministry.
He said he raised the issue at the NATO summit in Warsaw at the beginning of July and asked for support for Moldova's position on the withdrawal of Russian troops.
At the meeting Salaru also spoke of the importance of strengthening Ukrainian-Moldovan relations that are necessary to resist regional security challenges.
The defense ministers of Moldova and Ukraine met in Odesa in connection with the Ukrainian-U.S. Sea Breeze-2016 exercise which also involves some 40 servicemen of the Moldovan National Army. Salaru arrived in Odesa last Saturday to attend the final stage of the exercise. On Sunday he visited U.S. warships taking part in the exercise.
It has been 24 years this year since the beginning of the peacekeeping operation in Transdniestria. It began in compliance with the Moldovan-Russian agreement on the principles of the peaceful settlement of the Transdniestrian conflict signed by the presidents of the two countries Mircea Snegur and Boris Yeltsin on July21, 1992.
Presently, the mixed peacekeeping force comprises 402 servicemen from Russia, 492 from Transdniestria, 355 from Moldova as well as ten military observers from Ukraine. The peacekeepers operate 15 permanent posts and checkpoints in the security zone along the Dniester river.
In addition, a Russian operational force is deployed in Transdniestria consisting of about 1,000 servicemen who guard Russian armaments and ammunition stored at the arsenals there since Soviet times.