by Vladimir Socor, The Jamestown Foundation

Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin is pulling back from the bilateral, non-transparent negotiations with the Kremlin, on which he had embarked in September 2006. Concessions offered by Chisinau incrementally in the negotiating rounds with Russian Security Council Deputy Secretary Yuri Zubakov and, periodically, with President Vladimir Putin during 13 months, did not bring a settlement of the Transnistria conflict any closer. Voronin still seemed prey to illusions in that regard as late as July-August (see EDM, July 27, August 1); but no longer, as he now indicates in a carefully prepared interview (Komsomolskaya Pravda v Moldove, October 4).Read full article...