Moldovan President Initiates Social Dialogue on Reunification With Transnistria

Moldova's leader said he was starting a process of reconciliation with breakaway Transnistria.

CHISINAU (Sputnik) — Moldovan President Igor Dodon on Wednesday called for the creation of a social platform on reunification with the breakaway Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (Transnistria), following over 25 years of bilateral conflict.

“Today I present the initiative to create a social dialogue for reconciliation between the opposite banks of the Dniester river. Within the framework [of the dialogue] we will have the possibility to help and support each other. That is the only way of solving the problems, that residents of the both sides of the Dniester are facing,” Dodon said at a press briefing.

According to the president “only a unified Moldova has a future.”

The Transnistrian conflict began in 1990 when Transnistria, a region with a predominantly Russian and Ukrainian population, seceded from the Soviet Republic of Moldova for fear of potential unification with Romania. The separation led to a conflict known as "The Transnistria War" that ended in a ceasefire declared on July 21, 1992. Despite this fact, the conflict remains unresolved.

Last month, Dodon said that the Transnistrian crisis can be settled only through talks in the 5+2 format (Moldova, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Russia, Ukraine, plus the European Union and the United States as external observer.