By Alexander Tanas
CHISINAU, April 16 (Reuters) – Talks aimed at edging toward a solution to the decades-old dispute between Moldova and its separatist Transdniestria region broke down without progress on Thursday as authorities in Chisinau continue their drive to join the European Union by 2030.
Each side accused the other of refusing to budge from known positions at the talks in Tiraspol, the administrative centre of pro-Russian Transdniestria, which broke away from Moldova before the 1991 collapse of Soviet rule.
Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister Valeriu Chiveri told reporters Transdniestria had refused to sign a joint declaration on resuming formal talks on a settlement.
“We believe that this demonstrates just how serious Tiraspol views the process of a settlement,” he said.
Transdniestria Foreign Minister Vitaly Ignatiev said Moldovan officials were trying to sabotage the talks. “We have seen no implementation from Moldova of a single issue on the agenda.”
Self-styled Transdniestria has existed alongside Moldova, one of Europe’s poorest countries, for more than three decades, with virtually no unrest since a brief conflict in 1992, receiving support from Moscow but no international recognition.
Since last year, it no longer receives virtually free Russian gas as Ukraine halted transit through its territory.
Moldova on Thursday tightened restrictions on Transdniestria by barring entry to 1,500 Russian “peacekeepers” who have stood between the two sides since the early 1990s.
Transdniestria also objects to Moldovan proposals to introduce excise and other duties uniformly throughout the country by extending them to the separatist region.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu, a fierce critic of Russia and its invasion of Ukraine, said last year that difficulties in resolving the separatist issue “do not mean we will put off European integration for 10 or 20 years.”
Ignatiev told Russia’s RIA news agency last week that Moldova could not pursue EU membership without a solution, “as the EU does not want to import a conflict.”
(Reporting by Alexander Tanas, writing by Ronald Popeski, editing by Rod Nickel)
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