Transnistrian Foreign Minister Hopes OSCE Will Play More Active Role In Settling Conflict

Transnistrian Foreign Minister Hopes OSCE Will Play More Active Role in Settling Conflict

Vitaly Ignatiev, the foreign minister of breakaway Transnistria, lamented the passivity of the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) in Europe and expressed hope that the organization would more actively facilitate a political settlement in the region

TIRASPOL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th March, 2023) Vitaly Ignatiev, the foreign minister of breakaway Transnistria, lamented the passivity of the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) in Europe and expressed hope that the organization would more actively facilitate a political settlement in the region.

"For quite some time, we have observed a certain passivity of the OSCE, which does not contribute to normalizing the situation. The OSCE should show more activity in negotiating," he told local radio station Radio 1.

Last week, Kelly Keiderling, the chief of the OSCE mission to Moldova, highlighted the significant efforts to settle the situation around breakaway Transnistria from all the sides involved.

In 2005, the "5+2" negotiations on the Transnistrian settlement process began, involving Moldova and Transnistria, as the two sides of the conflict, Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE as mediators, with the European Union and the United States acting as observers.

Transnistria, 60% of whose citizens are Russians and Ukrainians, had been seeking secession from Moldova before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Chisinau has exercised no control over Transnistria since 1992. The breakaway republic is not recognized internationally, while Moldova and all members of the United Nations consider the republic to be a part of Moldova.