RUSSIAN MFA SPOKESMAN ALEXANDER YAKOVENKO'S INTERVIEW WITH RIA NOVOSTI CONCERNING UPCOMING VISIT OF MOLDOVAN FOREIGN MINISTER ANDREI STRATAN TO RUSSIA
Unofficial translation from Russian
Question: Please tell us about the visit of Andrei Stratan, the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Moldova, to Russia, scheduled for the first ten-day period of July. What are the main problems of the upcoming talks in Moscow?
Answer: The working visit to Russia of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Moldova, Andrei Stratan, will take place on July 13-14. This will be his first visit to Moscow in his capacity as the head of the foreign affairs agency of Moldova.
In the course of Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov's upcoming contacts with Stratan it is planned to compare approaches to the further development of Russian-Moldovan collaboration in the political, economic, humanitarian and cultural fields in the context of the implementation of the Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation between our countries and of other documents and agreements. Questions of interaction by the foreign affairs agencies of our countries, including within international and regional organizations, also will be examined.
We intend to draw the Moldovan side's attention to the issues in economic cooperation, bearing in mind the necessity to elaborate ways of cover for the republic's "historical" debts for Russian gas, tied to implementation of the earlier reached principled agreements on Russian capital promotion in Moldova and to our participation in the privatization of enterprises, including in Transnistria.
The Russian side also intends to raise such issues as the status of our compatriots in Moldova, and improvement of consular services for citizens of the Russian Federation living in Transnistria.
Question: What place in the course of Lavrov's meeting with his Moldovan counterpart is allotted to the question of Transnistrian settlement?
Answer: As is known, in Transnistrian settlement Russia acts as a co-mediator and guarantor. In the course of the upcoming talks with Stratan a thorough talk is to be held about the state of affairs in Transnistria.
Our position in this matter remains invariable. Russia presumes that the Transnistrian problem can be solved on the basis of the observance of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Moldova and of ensuring an agreed-upon and reliably guaranteed status of Transnistria. Unfortunately, in November 2003 a real possibility was lost of carrying out a breakthrough in this direction. We consider that at this stage abiding by the compromise decisions earlier reached with Russian assistance would help arrive at final agreements meeting reciprocal interests, including on guarantees for their implementation.
Question: What aspects of humanitarian and cultural interaction are to be touched upon in the course of the Moscow consultations?
Answer: Bilateral cooperation in the humanitarian field remains an important area of Russian-Moldovan relations. Work is currently at the concluding stage on the elaboration of a Humanitarian Cooperation Program between our countries, spread over a two-year period.
In the course of the talks attention will be devoted to the joint work on the preparation and carrying out of the 60th anniversary observances of the Victory over fascism.
