RUSSIA STANDS FOR RETURNING PMR IN MOLDOVA – SERGEY LAVROV

Russia has never recognized Transnistria, but keeps standing for the settlement of the conflict in this region and returning of the unrecognized Transnistrian Moldovan republic in the membership of a sovereign, neutral and non-bloc Moldova.

According to the PolitNavigator portal, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov stated this at the All-Russian Youth Educational Forum “Territory of Senses” in the Moscow region, answering to participants’ questions.

“Russia has not recognized the PMR, it is a participant in the process aimed at settling this conflict on the basis of proper principles. The number-one principle is the following: a special status for PMR, agreed with Tiraspol as component part of the Republic of Moldova, with understanding that Moldova will preserve its sovereignty, that is will never be absorbed by anyone as a state and with understanding that it will remain neutral, that is will never join any military-political blocs , he stressed.”

According to him, these principles were agreed back in early 2000s and they were laid as basis of a document – the so-called Kozak Memorandum.

“It was initialed in Tiraspol and in Chisinau, but in the last moment, literally several hours before all ceremony participants had to come together for signing it, our EU colleagues from Brussels prohibited the then Moldovan president Vladimir Voronin to sign this document. The reason was: this will be a diplomatic success of Russia”, Lavrov said, lamenting about criteria the Western partners are often guided by, even in many crises in the modern world.