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Leaders of the renegade Moldovan province
Transnistria were closeted in meetings on Monday over Kosovo's recent
declaration of independence, the Infotag news agency reported.
Russian-speaking Transnistria seceded from Romanian-speaking Moldova
after a civil war ending in 1992. No country has recognised the region
as a separate state, despite Transnistria's de facto independence.
Top members of Transnistria's leadership, headed by Transnistrian
leader Igor Smirnov, began meetings early on Monday to decide the
region's best move given Kosovo's new status.
Leaders of two
other Soviet-era breakaway provinces, Abkhazia and Southern Ossetia,
were in Moscow on Monday pushing their regions' independence, and
politicking for international recognition.
The Kremlin has threatened to recognize both Abkhazia and Southern Ossetia, if Kosovo became an independent state.
The facts that Smirnov had not been invited to Moscow, and that a
change in Transnistria's status had not been among recent Kremlin
threats to NATO nations, have obliged the Transnistrian leadership 'to
review their options carefully, to find the best way forward,' Infotag
reported, citing a senior Transnistrian official.
One
possible Transnistrian move would be a direct approach to the United
Nations requesting the UN recognise Transnistria's independence, he
said.
A second option, reportedly supported by hard liners
within the Transnistria leadership, calls for the dispatch of
Transnistrian ambassadors to countries that might recognise the region,
particularly Russia, Belarus, Armenia, and Kazakhstan.
Russia's upcoming March 2 election, in which Transnistrian citizens
holding Russian passports may participate, and the need to keep polling
in the region violence-free were key arguments of moderates within the
Transnistrian politburo supporting no major Transnistrian diplomatic
initiatives in the wake of Kosovo's independence.
The
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has tried
since 1994 to bring Moldova and Transnistria to meaningful
reunification talks. The effort in no small part due to friction with
Russia has been an abject failure, and Transnistria is at once one of
the most heavily militarised, and poorest, regions in Europe.
news.monstersandcritics.com
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