MOLDOVA OPPOSES INDEPENDENCE FOR GEORGIAN REGIONS

PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung)
Aug 29 2008
Austria

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) – Moldovan authorities said Friday that other
nations should not follow Russia’s lead in recognizing the independence
of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

"The Moldovan government does not consider that the international
recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia will bring stability to
the situation" in the Caucasus region, Moldova’s government said in
a statement.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has recognized the independence of
the two separatist regions after Moscow’s brief war with Georgia over
South Ossetia, drawing criticism from the West.

Moldova’s government said it rejects any comparison between
the situation in Georgia and the Moldovan separatist region of
Trans-Dniester.

Trans-Dniester broke away from Moldova in 1990. It is not recognized
internationally, but it is supported by Russia. Russia has 1,500 troops
stationed there to guard large weapons storage facilities left over
from the former Soviet military.

On Tuesday, Russia’s ambassador to Moldova, Valeri Kuzmin, warned
Moldova’s leaders to avoid a "bloody and catastrophic trend of events"
in Trans-Dniester. But Kuzmin acknowledged that the situation in
Moldova was different from the Caucasus.

That area includes Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, southern parts of
Russia and the disputed territories of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and
Nagorno-Karabakh. Moldova is on the other side of the Black sea from
the Caucasus.