Transdniester Talks Yield No Breakthrough

Ambassador Andrei Deshchytsia says he is "more and more optimistic" on Transdniester. (file photo)

Seven-party talks over Moldova's decades-long dispute with its breakaway Transdniester region took place in Brussels on October 3.

The focus of the meeting was on freedom of movement and how to draw "borders" along the Dniester river, but no breakthroughs were announced.

The so-called "5+2" talks included representatives from Moldova, Transdniester, Russia, Ukraine, and the OSCE, plus officials from the European Union and United States attending as observers.

Ambassador Andrei Deshchytsia, the special representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for conflicts, said after the talks, "We are more and more optimistic," but he did not elaborate. Negotiators told a news conference that talks will continue at a working-group level.

Moscow-backed Transdniester declared independence from predominantly Romanian-speaking Moldova in 1990. The two sides fought a war in 1992 which cost some 700 lives.

With reporting by AFP