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Russia to continue its support for Transnistria – Karasin

28 july 2010, 16:41 print out copy link The link has been copied to the Clipboard

The Russian Federation will be providing assistance to Transnistria’s economic and social development, Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs/State Secretary Grigory Karasin stated during his meeting with Transnistrian president Igor Smirnov here.

Smirnov’s press service reported that the parties had a constructive conversation, discussing bilateral cooperation questions presenting interest to both Transnistria and Russia.

The press service quoted Igor Smirnov as saying that “the Lord has assigned Russia to take care of those who are insulted and humiliated. In the current hard economic and world-restructuring times, Russia does not forget Transnistria even for a minute, though itself has lots of problems. Today we have agreed upon our further interaction and joint work on these questions”.

Grigory Karasin said the sides discussed also international issues related to Transnistrian conflict settlement, and the problems emerging lately for objective reasons due to political developments in Chisinau.

“We discussed also the development of processes in internationally approved formats such as e.g. the 5+2 format. We touched on relations with Ukraine, where important changes took place last several months. We are optimistic about the role Ukraine can play in the development of the region and in the Moldo-Transnistrian settlement – in an interaction with Russia”, said Grigory Karasin.

The Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs said Russia stands ready to offer a ground for holding various international seminars, consultations on the Moldo-Transnistrian problem, for “the working groups of experts must not necessarily meet in Vienna or Geneva. They can well be gathering much nearer, too, for instance in Moscow or near it”.

While in Tiraspol, Grigory Karasin met with Chairman of the Transnistrian supreme soviet [parliament] Anatoly Kaminski, and stated after the conversation, “We discussed bilateral relations between our parliaments and political parties. We will bring with us to Moscow certain wishes and thoughts addressed to Russian parliamentarians”.

Kaminski said, “We have confirmed the unchanged position of our parliament: the Transnistrian lawmakers shall continue working to harmonize the Transnistrian legislation with the Russian one”.

Last weekend, the Russian press reported Moscow’s decision to suspend financial assistance for Transnistria because the Transnistrian authorities, including certainly president Igor Smirnov, “must work in the interests of Transnistria citizens, not to solve their family problems at the Russian assistance’s expense”.

In Tiraspol, Grigory Karasin had a meeting at the Transnistrian ministry of foreign affairs to discuss the Chisinau-Tiraspol relations and cooperation between Transnistria and Russia.

Karasin remarked afterwards, “It’s always a pleasure for us to come to Tiraspol, where were are at our friends’. And even when we discuss really hard questions, our discussions have a purely working character, and never cause sharp emotions”.

Transnistrian minister of foreign affairs Vladimir Yastrebchak thanked the Russian foreign ministry for the attention it attaches to handling socio-cultural problems and to the development of ties between “our two states” in the cultural and humanitarian spheres.