Adjustments to Transdniestrian settlement talks' format require universal approval - Tiraspol
MOSCOW. Jan 22 (Interfax) - Tiraspol insists on coordinating any adjustments made to the format of the Transdniestrian settlement negotiations with all the negotiating parties.
"Concerning unspecified innovations in the negotiating procedure, the Transdniestrian side does not possess information about such initiatives and, what is more, thinks they cannot be implemented without being coordinated with all negotiating parties, which is actually an imperative clause of the document on the principles and procedures of the negotiating process which all parties of the 5+2 format pledged to be guided by in their activity," Foreign Minister of the unrecognized Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic Nina Stanski told Interfax.
She made the comment on a statement by the head of the OSCE delegation to Moldova, Jennifer Brush, about the involvement of new subjects in the Transdniestrian settlement talks. "We have sent an official inquiry to J. Brush requesting comprehensive explanations about the January 13 statements presented by the media as an interview of the head of the OSCE delegation to Moldova. We assessed the statements and conveyed the information to all parties of the 5+2 format," Stanski said.
"I have to emphasize that the aforementioned issue is far from being a competence of the field mission of the mediating organization, the OSCE, which, it seems to me, is bound in the first turn to carry out the organizational and technical tasks it is entrusted with in assigning the sides in the dialogue, which, to be frank, has been slow this year," the minister said.
"As to the agenda of the negotiations, I believe you are well aware of its content. The document was published in July 2012 when it was signed by the sides and the mediators of the Permanent Conference and published on the website of the Foreign Ministry of the Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic in free access. I am not familiar with any documents defining the nature and goals of our discussions in the 5+2 format that mention the question of the status of Transdniestria," she said.
Stanski expressed hope that the upcoming round of the Chisinau-Tiraspol negotiations would be fruitful.