CHISINAU, March 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's ambassador to Moldova said Monday his country remains committed to a peaceful settlement of the ongoing impasse around the breakaway Transdnestr region.
"We respect Moldova's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as enshrined in the 2001 Russian-Moldovan Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation," Nikolai Ryabov said, adding that Ukraine was to blame for current tensions around the region.
"Russia is seriously concerned about the heightened tensions around Transdnestr, the result of Ukraine's direct involvement into attempts by Moldova to further lock the region into its economic space outside the negotiations process," he said.
Ryabov said Russia hoped Chisinau would refrain from unilateral moves that could scupper a political settlement and undermine trust between the sides. He said Moldova could not exercise its sovereign rights while ignoring an unsettled conflict on its territory that could potentially jeopardize peace and security in the region.
Tension around Transdnestr flared in early March after Moldova imposed new customs regulations requiring all Transdnestr goods bound for Ukraine to bear an official Moldovan stamp. The regulations were outlined in a joint communique adopted by the Moldovan and Ukrainian prime ministers on December 30, 2005, and endorsed by the Ukrainian Cabinet in a March 1 decree.
Officials in Tiraspol and Moscow said the move represented an economic blockade of the breakaway region.
Transdnestr's status has been a bone of contention since armed conflict broke out there in March 1992, when Moldova declared its independence from the Soviet Union and Transdnestr in turn proclaimed itself a republic. Russia intervened in the conflict at the Moldovan president's request, and the Russian and Moldovan presidents signed a ceasefire agreement in the presence of the leader of Transdnestr in July 1992.
