On July 27 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the TMR hosted the meeting between Transdniestrian Foreign Minister Vladimir Yastrebchak and State-Secretary/Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Grigory Karasin. The meeting was also attended by Deputies Foreign Minister of the TMR Alexander Maliarchuk and Sergey Simonenko, Ambassador at Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Gubarev, Charge d\'affaires ad interim of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Moldova Vitaliy Triapicin, and Deputy Chief of the Second Department of the CIS countries of the Russian Foreign Ministry Nikolai Fomin.
In the course of the meeting the diplomats discussed the status of the Moldova-Transdniestria settlement at the present stage, its perspectives, and also touched upon international background of the settlement. The interlocutors especially dwelt on certain aspects of domestic policy developments in the Republic of Moldova. “Today the Moldo-Transdniestrian settlement process faces new challenges as far as it is not fully clear how political disposition in Moldova will be formed, with the forthcoming constitutional referendum and then parliamentary elections in this country,” told Grigory Karasin. Speaking about interaction of foreign policy institutions of Russia and Transdniestria in the sphere of the settlement, the diplomat marked with satisfaction the active participation of Transdniestrian representatives in the work of all possible formats. According to him, right in the course of today's meeting the sides touched upon an issue of “what can be done so that these formats would bring certain results that would be palpable for the Transdniestrian population and be clear to the international community.” The diplomats agreed that fair and long-term settlement is possible provided that the negotiation process is based on the principles of equality of the sides, consistency and succession of positions; at the same time, the system of guarantees must be formed for the fulfillment of agreements reached by the sides.
During the conversation issues were also raised which are of mutual interest for Moscow and Tiraspol. “We always arrive in Tiraspol with great satisfaction because here friends are around us, and we manage to solve even complicated issues that appear from time to time. They are of working character and never provoke any strong emotions,” emphasized Grigory Karasin. The diplomat expressed gratitude to the Transdniestrian side for warm welcome and business, truly professional attitude during his visit.
Vladimir Yastrebchak, in his turn, told the journalists that in the course of the conversation, besides the Moldova-Transdniestria settlement, the issues of bilateral cooperation between Russia and the TMR were considered in social and economic, humanitarian and cultural spheres. The Minister laid special emphasis on the fact that close interaction of Transdniestria with the Russian Federation is rather fruitful for the people of both countries and allows looking into future with optimism. Vladimir Yastrebchak expressed appreciation to the Russian side for close attention given by the Russian Foreign Office to the problems of our region of Europe.
