Putin breaks ice over Moldova

By Andrew Beatty

Date: 07/04/05

Fresh hopes for a political solution to the crisis in the Moldovan breakaway republic of Transdniester emerged following an EU meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin this week.

Foreign policy chief Javier Solana held informal talks with Putin at the Russian president's residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, southern Russia, on Tuesday (5 April).

One Solana aide described the discussion on Moldova as "very positive", detecting new willingness from Moscow to resolve Moldova's frozen conflict.

"It was more than a change in tone it was expression of willingness to do the maximum [to resolve the problem]," said spokesperson Cristina Gallach.

A tense stand-off has been observed between the Transdniestrian authorities and Chisinau since the end of the civil war that followed Moldovan independence and the break-up of the Soviet Union.

The Transdniester continues to be a destabilising factor in the region and has become a centre of large scale organised crime.

Russia retains influence there through its tacit support for the breakaway republic and the thousands of Russian troops that remained there since the fall of the Soviet Union.

The EU is keen to find a resolution of the problem in particular with a view to Romania's expected accession to the Union in 2007. Romania and Moldova share a border and have strong cultural and linguistic ties.

The recent elections in neighbouring Ukraine and Moldova also present new opportunities, diplomats say.

Five-party talks between Ukraine, Moldova, Russia, Transdniester and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe have largely failed to resolve the problem.

Russia had treated EU involvement in the talks with suspicion and has opposed Moldovan and OSCE calls for the EU to join in the negotiations.

Gallach said that both sides were now "open minded" about the process and would intensify diplomatic efforts "so that we can accelerate ourselves out of the current paralysis".

She said that the EU would hold further talks with Moldova, Ukraine and the OSCE in the coming days. A recently appointed EU special envoy, Adriaan Jacobovits de Szeged, is expected to travel to the Moldovan capital for talks.

Article reports on a meeting between the EU's High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, and the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, at the President's residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, southern Russia, 5 April 2005. Among the items discussed at the informal talks were a political solution to the crisis in the Moldovan breakaway republic of Transdniester.