EU hopes to persuade Russia into pulling out armaments from Transnistria
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Wednesday, 19 October 2005
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Moldova.org - Falls Church, VA, USA
The European Union hopes it will succeed in convincing the Russian Federation to remove its troops and arms from Transnistria, Adriaan Jacobovits de Szeged, the European Unions Special Representative for Moldova, has stated in his interview with Radio Free Europe.
In his words, both Russia and the European Union have same interests in that question, but they do not always understand this. The diplomat believes that the arsenals, stored thousands of kilometers off Russian borders, is of no importance for Moscow, so we hope we will manage to convince Russia it is in its interests to evacuate them. Russia has other possibilities to retain its influence, so it does not need those rusty ammunitions to preserve its influence in the region, for there exist other suitable means for this ? economic, political?, said Adriaan Jacobovits de Szeged.
In his opinion, it is in Moscows interests to preserve stability in the region. He is convinced Russia is able to convince Transnistrian leader Igor Smirnov to place no obstacles to removal of the Russian troops and arsenals from the region.
We are told that more than a half of the ammunition was withdrawn from the region in 2003. If Russia managed to convince Smirnov in 2003, it is able to do this in 2005?, said Adriaan Jacobovits de Szeged.
He refuted speculations that the European Union and the United States received the observer status at Transnistrian talks allegedly because they had themselves insisted on that.
The European Union stands ready to take part in the negotiations in any form acceptable to the conflicting sides?, said the European Unions Special Representative for Moldova. // Infotag
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