If they previously avoided discussing integration into the Russian Federation or veiled it, the Tiraspol separatists began to speak openly on the subject. The statements were made by the so-called Minister of Foreign Affairs of Transnistria, Vitallii Ignatiev, in an interview with Sputnik Moldova.
It should be mentioned that the agency’s website was previously blocked by the Intelligence and Security Service of the Republic of Moldova. Ignatiev says that in 2006, through a referendum, Transnistrians decided they wanted independence, then “free membership in the Russian Federation.”
Ignatiev also referred to the status of a candidate country for accession to the European Union, obtained by the Republic of Moldova in June 2022. According to him, Chisinau’s visions are opposed to those of Tiraspol.
“Regarding the option of negotiation, given the European perspectives of Moldova, which contradict the will of the people of Transnistria, it is impossible to peacefully and non-violently combine in one state the completely different identities of Moldovan (or Romanian) and multinational peoples Transnistrian, their different values, different heroes, the choice of opposite vectors of development. This is a dangerous utopia that can lead to a new outbreak of conflict. In Transnistria, the results of the referendum of 17 September 2006 rule out deviation from the course of independence, with subsequent free entry into Russia. The concept of foreign policy, the development strategy until 2026 and other doctrinal documents formulate their own national idea “, the separatist official declares.
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So, Tiraspol seems to be trying to put Chisinau in front of the choice between “peaceful divorce”, as Ignatiev calls it, or new tensions in the region. Earlier, in interviews with the Russian press, he stated several times about the separatist region’s intention to achieve independence, but hesitated to speak directly about the possible official entry under the “wing” of the Kremlin.