RUSSIA NOT GOING TO BACK ANYBODY AT ELECTIONS IN MOLDOVA – MFA SPOKESPERSON MARIA ZAHAROVA

Russia is not going to render whatever backing to any runner at the forthcoming parliamentary election in Moldova, Maria Zaharova, Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated at her online news conference on Tuesday.

Zaharova said that elections are a domestic affair of a sovereign state, and that after the soon-to-be parliamentary election [February 2014] in Moldova Moscow is expecting a further development of bilateral relations.

Concerning the much-spoken question of Russian troop withdrawal from Transnistria, Maria Zaharova reminded the stance of Moscow’s formulated yet very long ago: the Operational Group of Russian Forces (OGRV) has been in Transnistria to guard Russian military warehouses there.

“There is nothing opaque in OGRV’s actions. As for de-blocking of the conflict settlement situation, it has been at a deadlock for political reasons, and this is no news to anybody”, said Zaharova.

The MFA Spokesperson believes that aggravation of the situation around Transnistria brings nothing constructive to the negotiation process and cannot help de-block the current impasse or improve the general atmosphere of bilateral relations, “but as a tactical move, this may be advantageous for the domestic political goals pursued by certain political forces or politicians”.

Asked if Moscow is going to continue its assistance to Transnistria, Maria Zaharova said: “It offends us to hear such a question”.

“You are perfectly aware that help to Transnistria was provided even when Russia itself needed assistance badly [in the 1990s]. We have never forgotten Transnistria. The situation is under control. We proceed from the assumption that sovereign countries have the right to conduct their own policy, but it should not be aimed against the country’s own people”, said Zaharova.

In her words, “The protection of our compatriots in Transnistria, whom Russia will never let down, is a very special question, a whole bundle of problems that includes, besides the support for the Russian language, a lot of other questions”.

Asked to comment on the alleged presence of biological laboratories in Moldova, the Director of the Russian MFA Information and Press Department stated she has no such information.