'Just a Declaration': Moldovan Gov't Puts Foreign Troops Issue on UN Agenda

Moldovan President Igor Dodon said in an interview with Sputnik that the republic's intention to raise the issue of foreign military personnel being withdrawn from the country's territory at the UN General Assembly was simply a political move.

CHISINAU (Sputnik) – On August 22, Moldova's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Victor Moraru sent a letter to the organization's secretariat stating that the country expected to put the issue of removing foreign military personnel on the agenda of the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly.

"It is important that we all understand — both in Chisinau and Tiraspol, and the majority of Moldovan citizens, and most of Russian citizens — that this is just a political declaration," Moldovan President Igor Dodon said.

Transnistria, a region with a predominantly ethnically Russian and Ukrainian population, is a self-proclaimed republic that seceded from the Soviet Republic of Moldova in 1990 for fear of possible reunion with Romania. Russian troops have been part of a multinational peacekeeping force in Transnistria since 1992.

Igor Dodon added that it would only be possible to speak about the resolution of the Transnistrian issue after Moldova's parliamentary elections in 2018.

Later the Moldovan Foreign Ministry said "the initiative does not concern the withdrawal of Russian servicemen who are part of the trilateral peacekeeping forces in the Transnistrian security zone," but "will allow for the consideration, in a constructive manner by the UN General Assembly, of the issue of the illegal deployment of a Russian Armed Forces task force."