Russia starts on Monday a regular rotation of its peacekeeping contingent in Moldova's breakaway region of Transdnestr.
The peacekeeping operation in the region is carried out by the Collective Peacekeeping Forces (CPF), comprising 402 Russian, 492 Transdnestrian, 355 Moldovan troops and 10 Ukrainian observers.
The peacekeepers man a total of 15 checkpoints in the unrecognized republic.
The CPF has said the rotation of a Russian peacekeeping battalion will be conducted in several stages from July 19 through July 26.
A motorized infantry company will be stationed in Dubasari and the rest of the battalion will be deployed in Bender.
Transdnestr has been considered a "frozen conflict" zone since a brief war in 1992, which was the culmination of tensions between Chisinau and Tiraspol following the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Russia, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are mediators in the conflict, and the European Union and the United States are observers.
Tensions in the region flared up shortly after four pro-Western parties ended eight years of communist rule in Moldova by forming in September last year a coalition government, which has openly supported unification with Romania and closer ties with the West.
The new Moldovan leadership demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country and the replacement of the current peacekeeping operation by a multi-national mission with an international mandate.
Transdnestr, on the contrary, has asked Russia to increase its peacekeeping contingent in the conflict zone to 2,400 troops amid concerns that Moldova could attempt to bring its breakaway region back under its rule through military intervention.
The talks on the future of Transdnestr in the "five-plus-two" format, involving Russia, Ukraine, OSCE, Moldova, Transdnestr, with the United States and the EU as observers, have been frozen since February 2006.
Tiraspol insists on independence, and even integration with Russia, while Chisinau says it is willing only to give Transdnestr autonomy within Moldova.
TIRASPOL, July 19 (RIA Novosti)
