Shuttle diplomacy to be used to settle the Transdnestr issue

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Next round of negotiations on Transdnestr issue settlement planned for 17 May has been cancelled, Head of OSCE Mission in Moldavia William Hill announced on May 15 at a news briefing in Kishinev, REGNUM correspondent reports.

According to Hill, “positions of the conflicting parties are too far from each other now.” New custom regulations introduced by Ukraine for Transdnestrian exports have become the major stumbling block in the negotiations process. Negotiators on the Transdnestrian side demand a point-blank revocation of the new regulations. They denote it as a prerequisite for further negotiations with the Moldavian side. Kishinev earlier dismissed the possibility of altering Transdnestrian exports customs regulations. They maintain the exported Transdnestrian goods be supplied with Moldavian papers.

Hill noted that mediators will have to continue to use the shuttle diplomacy. He informed that a second meeting in the ‘2+3’ format (Moldavia and Transdnestr as negotiators; Russia, Ukraine, and OSCE as mediators — REGNUM) will convene in Brussels next week.

Hill also said that delineation of powers between Kishinev and Tiraspol within the limits of the unitary state was discussed during the first negotiations session held in the same format in Moscow without the Moldavian participation.