The current pause in the 5+2 format negotiations on the Transnistrian conflict settlement should not continue too long, believes Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Sergey Gubarev, Moscow’s chief negotiator.

In his interview with the Russian Federation’s official news agency TASS the diplomat expressed concern about the continuing stagnation of the negotiating process. In his firm opinion, the key reason for this is the continuing aggravation of dialog between Chisinau and Tiraspol.

“International mediators must also play their due role in correcting the situation. We actively work both with the conflicting sides and the mediators. We believe the pause in the negotiating process should not be too long, for it cost us all too great efforts to restart the talks in 2011 after a 6-year-long break. We are expecting that after the formation of a new government in Chisinau, the Moldovan leadership will at last assume a realistic position on the Transnistrian conflict settlement and, as a first step, will cancel its insufficiently well-thought decisions – ‘criminal litigations’ against Transnistrian officials, economic blockade actions and other. This will surely facilitate the sides’ return to the negotiating table”, said Sergey Gubarev.

He underscored that one of fundamental conditions for Transnistria settlement negotiations is a commitment at least not to make steps aggravating the partner’s position.

“Otherwise, this is not a negotiation – this is pressure and blackmail. Presently, Transnistria has become the object of precisely such undisguised pressure. The region lives in fact in the conditions of an economic and humanitarian blockade. The situation around Transnistria became particularly complicated after the signature by Moldova of its Association Agreement with the European Union. With that step, Chisinau fully ignored the Transnistrian residents’ choice in favor of close cooperation with the Customs Union [of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, known since January 1, 2015 as the Eurasian Economic Union, EAES]. Moreover, Chisinau is not even considering any mechanisms able to compensate for the differing vectors of the economic interests of the right and left Dniester sides”, said Sergey Gubarev.

In his words, Russia is proceeding from the fact that conditions haven’t yet matured for discussing political questions in the 5+2 negotiating format.

“The sides must make realistic steps to create trust in one another, must demonstrate readiness to solve the problem, not just to discuss it. And the last thing: any provocation against Tiraspol, wherever it may come from, will not only complicate the negotiations – it will drive them into a deadlock. Such a scenario for Transnistria is impermissible”, stressed the Russian chief negotiator.