Transdniestria is a self-proclaimed republic on Moldovan territory populated mostly by Russians. The Russian-proposed compromise plan to settle the Chisinau-Transdniestria conflict was rejected by the Moldovan side.
Commenting on the results of the first round of the talks resumed after a five-month break, with participation of five sides - Russia, Ukraine, the OSCE, Moldova and Transdniestria, the diplomat said: "The latest proposals of the Moldovan side on the settlement of the situation in many respects use the basic elements of this memorandum." The ambassador said that as regards Tiraspol's proposals, the issue is more complicated (Tiraspol is Transdniestria's capital). However, he said, a lot of work is ahead, and we are only in the beginning of the road after a long break.
In Mr. Nesterushkin's opinion, for intermediaries, the main thing now is "to soberly assess the latest proposals of the sides and help them start resolving the problem." The Russian diplomat said that the very fact of work in a five-sided format is evidence that this mechanism has preserved efficiency and the potential to assist the sides to settle the arising situations.
