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MOSCOW, March 23 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine has demanded stricter regulations for a Russian convoy carrying humanitarian aid to Transdnestr, a self-proclaimed republic in Moldova, the Russian emergency situations minister said Thursday.
"We have received a note today from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry," Sergei Shoigu said. "It seemed very strange to us."
The minister said that Ukraine had demanded that the route of the convoy be changed, Russian symbols be removed and that it travel only by night.
The convoy had originally planned to travel through the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov, but Shoigu said the authorities had asked for a route change taking the trucks through the capital Kiev due to congestion on the original itinerary.
However, the Russian minister seemed surprised with the request.
"There is far more traffic on the Orel (Russia)-Kiev-Odessa highway," he said. "That is why we do not fully understand this [request]."
According to the ministry, a fleet of 24 vehicles carrying about 230 metric tons of humanitarian aid for Transdnestr had stopped in Russia's Kursk Region, which borders on Ukraine.
Commenting on Ukraine's demand to remove symbols, which Ukraine called "propaganda," Shoigu said that the Russian flag and emblem should not be considered as such, adding that Russia's desire to provide aid was not politically motivated.
"We just want to help our citizens and deliver aid to those who need it," he said.
Tensions around the breakaway region flared up after Moldova imposed new customs regulations in early March that require all Transdnestr goods bound for Ukraine to have an official Moldovan stamp, which some Russian politicians have said amounts to an economic blockade of the region.
As a result of Moldova's actions, backed by Ukraine, the region is facing a humanitarian catastrophe and a serious aggravation of the regional situation, which witnessed an armed conflict in March 1992, when Moldova declared its independence from the Soviet Union and Transdnestr in turn proclaimed itself a republic. Russia then 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.
