'Independence From Moldova, Joining Russia Are Transnistria's Fate' - President

TIRASPOL (Sputnik) – The self-proclaimed Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (Transnistria) is going to protect its independence from Moldova and to continue to seek joining Russia, republic’s President Yevgeny Shevchuk said on Saturday.

“The president’s position is based on the people’s will and on the current constitution. And it is the following: independence [from Moldova] and joining Russia are Transnistria's fate,” Shevchuk said in a televised address.

According to Shevchuk, after the recent presidential elections, Moldova started to make initiatives concerning changing the status of Transnistria and turning Moldova into a federal state.

Transnistria, a region with a predominantly ethnical Russian and Ukrainian population, broke away from the Soviet Republic of Moldova in 1990, fearing the country might seek to reunify with neighboring Romania. The move triggered a war that ended in a ceasefire in July 1992, but the conflict has remained unresolved. Russian peacekeepers have been preserving peace in the region, along with their Moldovan and Transnistrian counterparts.

Moldova's Central Elections Commission said Monday that Socialist Party leader Igor Dodon won the presidential election securing 52.12 percent of votes in the second round.