Moldova insists on Russian troops' withdrawal from Transdniestria - FM
CHISINAU. Nov 30 (Interfax) - Chisinau will continue insisting on the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Transdniestrian region, Moldovan Foreign Affairs and European Integration Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Nicu Popescu said.
"Russia should withdraw its troops from the Transdniestrian region. It will create favorable conditions for a peaceful settlement of the Transdniestrian conflict," Popescu said on his social media page.
The issue was addressed in meetings between Popescu and the foreign ministers of Romania, Spain, the Czech Republic, Denmark and France, the ministry's press service told Interfax. The meetings took place on Thursday on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting, which is being held in North Macedonia.
The meetings also addressed issues relating to Moldova's integration in the European Union, including in the context of the upcoming meeting of the Council of the EU, Popescu said. "I thanked my colleagues for support and emphasized that we should continue helping Ukraine," Popescu said.
Igor Zaharov, spokesman for the Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, earlier said the Moldovan delegation would make an official appeal for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Transdniestrian region of Moldova at the OSCE ministerial summit in Skopje.
"The Moldovan delegation, led by Foreign Affairs and European Integration Minister Nicu Popescu, will reduce its participation in meetings attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Popescu will not follow the example of his colleagues from the Baltic states and Ukraine who refused to attend the November 30 meeting in the capital of North Macedonia to protest Lavrov's participation in the OSCE meeting," Zaharov said.
In February, Popescu said Russian troops needed to be withdrawn from Transdniestria. "We also seek to achieve Russia's withdrawal of its forces and weapons illegally stationed in our territory. This is a key goal of our foreign policy, yet we will attain this goal exclusively by peaceful means, negotiations and diplomacy," Popescu said on February 14.
On February 21, Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean also said the operational group of Russian troops needed to leave Transdniestria. "Moldova is involved in a process that implies an exclusively peaceful resolution of the Transdniestria issue. This means that Russia is supposed to withdraw its troops and evacuate its weapons and ammunition. Russia has undertaken the obligation to do so, more than once. We should be assured that Russia will deliver on its promise. This is what demilitarization means," Recean told journalists.
He said he was not talking about winding up the peacekeeping operation conducted in accordance with the Moldovan-Russian agreement of July 21, 1992. "I am speaking about the Operational Group of Russian Forces, which is over 1,500 Russian troops staying in the Republic of Moldova without legitimate reasons. And Russia has repeatedly reaffirmed its obligation to withdraw the remnants of its former 14th Army," Recean said.