Moldova Blasts Separatist Vote, Seeks Russian Pullout

Pro-Russian Transdniester, which broke away from Moldova in 1990, held a parliamentary election on 11 December. The poll was shunned by the international community, which does not recognize the self-styled "Dniester Republic."

Moldovan Foreign Minister Andrei Stratan said yesterday that the election left in power a "regime unable to provide lasting democratization." He added that the region's leaders use intimidation "to sow fear among residents."

Stratan also called for the "unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from Moldovan territory."

Russia has had some 1,500 troops deployed in Transdniester since Soviet times.

At a summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) earlier this month, Moscow refused to withdraw its troops despite a 1999 agreement to do so.

(Reuters/Moldpress)