NEW ROUND OF TRANSNISTRIAN SETTLEMENT TALKS SCHEDULED FOR FEBRUARY 27-28 IN VIENNA

The first in 2014 round of Transnistrian settlement talks in the five plus two format (involving Moldova, Transnistria, Russia, Ukraine, the OSCE, the EU and the USA) will take place in Vienna on February 27-28, the special representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the Transnistrian settlement process, Serbia's Radojko Bogojevic, has announced.

Speaking at a news conference in Chisinau on Thursday, Radojko Bogojevic said that the dialogue between the sides "should be started from scratch" and be based on "trust and openness".

"We believe that the Transnistrian conflict could be successfully solved on condition of preserving Moldova's territorial integrity and offering a special legal status to Transnistria," the Serbian diplomat said.

At the same time, he could not say whether "a special legal status" meant the federalization of Moldova. He also refused to comment on Transnistrian leader Yevgeny Shevchuk's statement that Transnistrian negotiators "will walk out" of the room if the participants in the negotiations begin discussing a status for the rebel region within the framework of the Moldovan law adopted in 2005 and providing for Moldova's unitary status.

"I do not want to go down into details about the agenda of the talks that has already been agreed with the negotiators. The only thing I am confident about is the fact that a political decision is needed. Everyone understands that we will achieve this," Radojko Bogojevic stressed.

Infotag's dossier: In 2014-2015, the chairmanship in the OSCE will be held by Serbia and Switzerland. The acting head of the OSCE is Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, while the OSCE's special representative for the Transnistrian settlement process is Serbian diplomat Radojko Bogojevic.