Political debates may thwart Moldovan-Transdniestrian settlement - Russian Foreign Ministry
TIRASPOL. Feb 6 (Interfax) - Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador at Large Sergei Gubarev and Deputy Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry Second CIS Department Vitaly Tryapitsyn met with Transdniestrian President Yevgeny Shevchuk in Tiraspol on Tuesday, the Transdniestrian presidential press service reports.
"The sides discussed the agenda of the next round of Moldovan-Transdniestrian settlement consultations in the 5+2 format due in Lviv on February 18-19," the report said.
Political discussions linked with the prospective status of Transdniestria would make no sense without the solution of socioeconomic problems, Gubarev said.
"We think the sides should concentrate on socioeconomic and humanitarian issues. The negotiations will be driven into a deadlock or even thwarted if we start to discuss political and status matters right now," he emphasized.
The interlocutors also discussed unrestricted passenger and cargo traffic between Transdniestria and Moldova. "There are a number of areas in which all of us, including Russia - an intermediary of the negotiations, cannot reach mutual understanding," Gubarev said. "The opening of the bridge across the Dniester River near the villages Bychok (in Transdniestria) and Gura Bicului (in Moldova) will help create a new transport corridor. That will be good for Moldova, Transdniestria, Ukraine and Russia. We have the most positive wish for the solution of this problem," the Russian diplomat observed.
The Bychok-Gura Bicului bridge was blasted in the hostilities of 1992. It was restored later on but did not reopen for traffic. Transdniestrian President Shevchuk and Moldovan Prime Minister Vladimir Filat acknowledged the possible reopening of the bridge for traffic in Ribnita, Transdniestria, on April 26, 2012, when cargo railroad traffic resumed on the Transdniestrian territory.
