Eurasia Press & News
Answering a question about only 7 presidents to take part in the Chisinau CIS Summit tomorrow, the Russian foreign minister replied there is nothing strange about it.
Under the chairmanship of the Moldovan Deputy Premier, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Iurie Leanca, eleven foreign ministers from the CIS member countries had discussed all questions that were on their agenda today. All the agreed-on draft documents have been prepared and passed over for approval by the heads of CIS states, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov stated to journalists in Chisinau today.
Among the said drafts Lavrov mentioned a document against which the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations shall become the basic center for training emergency specialists [rescuers, firefighters etc.] for all CIS countries.
Sergey Lavrov said the ministers approved a Declaration in Support of the Book, which will be backed by the Russian CIS presidency in the framework of the 2010 Year of Sciences and Innovations in the CIS.
The Council members heard and okayed the report made by the foreign minister of Kazakhstan, who presented his country’s Action Plan as the OSCE presidency Kazakhstan is preparing to take over in 2010.
“We approved these plans because they stipulate the promotion of the Commonwealth’s common approaches in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe”, Lavrov said.
Asked if by any chance the European strivings by the new Moldovan leadership may lead to a split of the CIS, Sergey Lavrov replied he prefers to proceed from facts, “and the facts are as follows: the Moldovan leadership has confirmed its interestedness to closely cooperate with the CIS. Acting President Mihai Ghimpu confirmed with full certainty that Moldova has a great need for developing economic cooperation within the CIS frame”.
As for Moldova’s foreign-political targets, Sergey Lavrov presumes it is necessary to wait until full formation of the republic’s new leadership, after which the sides will discuss “the orientation of our strategic partner” – Moldova.
Answering a question about only 7 presidents to take part in the Chisinau CIS Summit tomorrow, the Russian foreign minister replied there is nothing strange about it, for it is impossible to gather 11 foreign ministers, 11 premiers and 11 presidents simultaneously in one place.
Asked to comment Transnistria’s wish to join Russia, Minister Lavrov said the Kremlin looks on this through the prism of the accords reached over last 15 years. Together with Ukraine and the OSCE, he said, Russia has made the main contribution to putting an end to the conflict’s hot phase, and worked all subsequent years to preserve Moldova’s territorial integrity and work out a special legal status for Transnistria.
He voiced regret – which, in his words, is shared by all negotiation process participants – that the previous Moldovan leadership refused to sign the Kozak Memorandum in November 2003, though that document contained all principles by using which the Transnistria conflict can be resolved. In his words, life has shown that the principles are viable, and no other ones can actually be found.
Lavrov said that the new Moldovan leadership is interested to continue negotiations in the current format [5+2], that “this is a general line, and the position will take its final shape upon the election of the new president of Moldova”.
The Russian foreign minister presumes the Moldovan government should scrutinize and come to comprehend all the finest nuances of the Transnistria settlement process.
“Our military contingent is present in Transnistria not because we, Russia, want this, but because we guard the huge stocks of ammunition, whose evacuation was suspended because the previous Moldovan leadership upset the Kozak Memorandum signature in 2003”, said Sergey Lavrov.
Concerning Moldova’s wish to replace military observers in the Transnistria Security Zone, Lavrov said the peacekeeping format can be changed but only in the context of general settlement of the Transnistria conflict, as was stipulated by the Kozak Memorandum. And statements like “you first remove your peacekeepers and then we will start talks” mean that the speaker has only a superficial knowledge of the settlement problem, said Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov.
