 | FACT AND FICTION blend in how the world sees Pridnestrovie, also known as Transnistria. In this guide, get just the facts and none of the fiction... [more] |  | | |  | TRANSNISTRIA WAS NEVER IN MOLDOVA during any period of Moldova's history as an independent country since 1359. Could that change in the future? [more] |
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Russia wants status talks restarted in Moldova frozen conflict
The economic blockade which Pridnestrovie says is strangling its economy has not yet been lifted. But Russia still thinks Tiraspol and Chisinau should start talking, even under skewed conditions which are unfavorable to the minority side. A top Russian official is in Moldova to offer his help in getting status settlement talks back on track. 
Following the 3 March 2006 customs clampdown, which is still in effect, PMR protested against economic blockade (File photo)CHISINAU (Tiraspol Times) - A top Russian official has arrived in Chisinau to hold consultations on Russian-Moldovan relations and to offer help in resolving the territorial dispute between Moldova and Pridnestrovie.
As reported by Itar-Tass, Security Council Deputy Secretary Yuri Zubakov will meet with Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin on 23 May. Earlier this year, mediators from Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE - along with EU and US observers - met in Madrid and agreed that direct contacts between Chisinau and Tiraspol should resume.
Status settlement talks broke down in the last days of 2006 after the Moldovan delegation abruptly withdrew from the talks, accusing Tiraspol of unwillingness to negotiate.
The same week, following a Moldovan request, Ukraine imposed new customs rules for exports from Pridnestrovie. The unrecognized country saw this step as a direct economic blockade, aimed at strangling its economy, and explained that it could not be expected to negotiate under pressure.
- Russia recast as impartial mediator
On Monday, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that his country wants to assist the parties and help them “restore confidence and reduce confrontation between Chisinau and Tiraspol.”
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, says it is necessary to restore confidence and reduce confrontation between Chisinau and Tiraspol.
Moscow is widely accused of playing favoritism, and of exclusively supporting the minority side in the conflict. But complainers in Tiraspol point out that this charge is incorrect. They view Russia as the most impartial among the mediators, but also recognize that Russia at times gives it backing to Moldova, rather than to Pridnestrovie, depending on the actual subject that is being discussed.
In a harbor dispute on the Dniester river last year, Russia sided with Moldova in resolving the issue in a way that the PMR considered detrimental to its interests.
This year, Russia has withheld aid and is no longer supporting Pridnestrovie financially. A local budget gap is instead being covered with new taxes and with cutbacks in a number of key PMR government ministries.
- Talks over territory
Status talks focus on a 17 year old territorial claim which Moldova has on Pridnestrovie. Although the two were together within the MSSR for roughly half of the time that the Soviet Union lasted, they went their separate ways when the Soviet Union broke up. Historically, Pridnestrovie has never been part of an independent Moldovan state - or even Romania - at any time in the past.
In an independence referendum held 17 September, more than 97% of PMR's electorate voted in favor of independence and rejected a union state with Moldova. The international community, however, did not recognize the referendum results, prompting Smirnov to state that "democracy does not require the approval of anyone. It is the will of the people."
The Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica (PMR) is also known under informal names such as Transnistria, Transdniester, Transdnestr, Transdniestria and Trans-Dniester. It currently meets all the requirements for statehood under international law: It has a permanent population equivalent to Montenegro's, the world's newest U.N. member. For nearly seventeen years, the PMR has had sovereign control of a territory which is larger than 10% of other countries in the world. It has a democratically elected government with a parliment which is currently led by an opposition party. It also has more than a dozen government ministries, including a Ministry of Foreign Affairs which is currently in the process of expanding the new and emerging country's integration ties to the international community.
Pridnestrovie has its own flag, national anthem, coat of arms, postage stamps, passports, car plates, border control and police force. It also has a Supreme Court and a Central Bank which issues its own currency, the PMR Ruble. (With information from Itar-Tass)
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The government of Pridnestrovie has proposed a solution on Permanent Status Negotiations that will be based on consensus with Moldova. Its government sees little or no point in signing an unequal treaty which mostly favors just one of the sides, its Foreign Ministry said. The dispute over Pridnestrovie's territory has lasted almost 18 years. . . 
