OSCE Representative: Transnistrian Talks in 5+2 Format May Be Held in 2017

The negotiation on the Transnistrian conflict in the 5+2 format might be held at the end of 2017, Special Representative of the Austrian OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the Transdniestrian Settlement Process Wolf Dietrich Heim said Thursday.

TIRASPOL (Sputnik) — Heim said at a meeting with Vadim Krasnoselsky, the head of the breakaway region, that the major goal currently is to prepare the base for the next meetings in the 5+2 format.

Heim noted that he would like to know the relevant problems of the region to ensure the best support under the Austrian chairmanship in the OSCE.

Earlier in the day, Heim arrived in Tiraspol to hold a meeting with Krasnoselsky and the resident ambassadors of Russia, Ukraine, the European Union, and the United States – members of the so-called 5+2 format in order to "support the sides in moving the process forward."

Transnistria, a region with a predominantly ethical Russian and Ukrainian population, is a self-proclaimed republic that seceded from the Soviet Republic of Moldova in 1990 fearing possible reunion with Romania. The separation led to a conflict known as "The Transnistria War" that ended in a ceasefire declared on 21 July 1992, but the conflict remains unresolved.

Since 2005, the talks on the conflict in Transnistria have been held in the 5+2 format. The latest round was held on June 2-3, 2016 in Berlin.

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