Granting Special Status Will Settle Transnistria Issue - Moldovan President

The Transnistrian crisis should be settled by granting the breakaway republic a special status, Modlova's president said.

CHISINAU (Sputnik) — The Transnistrian crisis should be settled through reintegration of Moldova and Transnistria, while the region should acquire a special status within the country, Moldovan President Igor Dodon said on Saturday.

"The process of the Transnistrian settlement should end by reintegration of Moldova and Transnistria with a special legal status of Transnistria within the country," Dodon wrote on his Facebook page after the meeting with Austrian Prime Minister and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Sebastian Kurz.

Dodon stressed that despite the different views on some aspects of domestic and foreign policy with the government, he supported the "common approach" in finding solutions to benefit the people of both Dniester River’s banks.

Earlier in the day, Moldovan Prime Minister Pavel Filip said that the issue of defining the legal status of Transnistria as a part of Moldova would be the country's top priority in 2017.

The same day, the OSCE chairperson expressed support to the idea of granting a special legal status to Transnistria, hoping that it would help to settle the Transnistrian crisis.

Transnistria broke away from the Soviet Republic of Moldova in 1990, fearing the country might seek to reunify with neighboring Romania.