The 1+1 meeting in Tiraspol ended in a scandal between the Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration of the Republic of Moldova, Valeriu Chiveri, and the so-called Transnistrian foreign minister Vitalii Ignatiev.
At the start of the meeting, Chiveri stated that the constitutional authorities in Chisinau remain open to dialogue with Tiraspol and that both sides have generally managed to maintain a regular meeting schedule.
“We are once again in Tiraspol and we demonstrate openness to dialogue. We are glad that we have managed to generally maintain the schedule of our meetings,” he said.
According to video footage published by Zona de Securitate, tensions escalated during exchanges between the two delegations. Chiveri stated that relations between Chișinău and Tiraspol cannot be considered diplomatic, as they do not represent relations between two separate states.
Ignatiev reportedly reacted by warning that the Transnistrian delegation would leave the meeting if such statements continued in front of the press.
Chiveri later proposed issuing a joint statement to resume the negotiation process. The discussion then shifted to the status of the 5+2 format, with further disagreements between the sides.
Representatives of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe intervened to de-escalate tensions and stabilize the dialogue.