UKRAINE AGAINST RUSSIAN TROOPS IN MOLDOVA.

In a statement issued yesterday, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry rebutted the Russian Duma’s recent resolution, which declared Moldova’s Transdniester region a "zone of special Russian interests" and mandated the Russian government to station Russian troops there permanently. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry commented that the resolution jeopardizes a political settlement and "violates the generally accepted norms of international law. Ukraine recognizes Transdniester as part of Moldova and promotes a settlement "based on Moldova’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and the inviolability of its borders," the statement said. (UNIAN, November 25)

The Russian government hardly needs the Duma’s prodding to keep the troops in Moldova. The government has itself blocked indefinitely the implementation of the 1994 troop withdrawal agreement. The stationing of Russian forces in Transdniester, hard on Ukraine’s border, has certain parallels to the situation in nearby Crimea and poses added security problems for Ukraine.

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