​RUSSIA SURPRISED ABOUT PROCRASTINATION OF NEW 5+2 MEETING

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed bewilderment over the obvious procrastinating of the holding of an official 5+2 format meeting, the Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs/State Secretary Grigory Karasin stated here on Thursday in his meeting with Transnistrian president Vadim Krasnoselsky.

According to the Russian foreign ministerial press release, the parties discussed a broad circle of questions pertaining to the Moldova-Transnistria negotiating process, the perspectives of holding a new official meeting of the Permanent Conference on Political Issues within the Negotiation Process towards a Transnistrian Settlement (the 5+2 format).

They shared the opinion that the need for such meeting is obvious, for it is necessary to fix at the international level the accords reached by the sides during their contracts lately.

The interlocutors discussed also the possible serious consequences of unfolding a joint customs/border control by Moldova and Ukraine at the Pervomaisk-Cuciurgan border-crossing station.

The parties shared the opinion that despite the constructive tonality of the meetings held between Transnistrian president Vadim Krasnoselsky and Moldovan President Igor Dodon in January and March, the real situation around Transnistria is not improving, and the “good intentions” by the Moldovan side would not, so far, be backed with practical deeds.

In the nearest future, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Sergey Gubarev will visit Chisinau and Tiraspol to hold consultations on the Transnistrian problem settlement.

As already reported by Infotag, Sergey Gubarev visited Chisinau and Tiraspol as recently as 2 weeks ago. President Igor Dodon assured him that the official Chisinau would make all necessary efforts to exclude financial or economic risks for Transnistrian companies and individuals in the process of customs/border control on the Moldo-Ukrainian border at the Pervomaisk-Cuciurgan border-crossing station.

The discussion of the border control question at the 5+2 level is being insisted only by Transnistria, with Russia’s cautious support. Chisinau and Kiev are regarding this to be a question of their bilateral relations, so they are not going to put it up for an international debate. This opinion is shared by the OSCE.