MOLDOVA: Separatists endorse independence plan.

Voters in Moldova's separatist Dnestr region overwhelmingly backed the area's self-proclaimed independence, after results of a referendum were announced on Monday (September 18, 2006). The region's leaders immediately pledged to proceed with plans to join Russia. Western countries, along with tiny Moldova, dismissed the referendum as illegitimate well in advance of Sunday's (September 17) vote in Dnestr, recognised by no one in the international community. Russia, which maintains 1,200 troops in Dnestr in one of several "frozen conflicts" in ex-Soviet states, has called for the outcome of the poll to be heeded. Central Election Commission head Pyotr Denisenko told reporters 97.1 percent of voters in the Russian-speaking sliver of land bordering Ukraine had voted "yes" to the first of two questions underscoring its self-proclaimed independence. That question also called for moves to join Russia later. The second question, backed by 3.4 percent, asked voters whether they rejected independence and favoured instead integration with Moldova. "Are you in favour of independence from the Moldovan republic, and re-joining the Russian Federation?" - there was a vote of 97.1 percent (in favour), 2.3 percent were against. On the question of - "Do you reject independence, and wish to rejoin the Moldovan republic?" - there was 96.4 percent against, and 3.4 percent in favour," said Denisenko at a news conference on Monday. Western countries sent no observers. Delegations attended from Russia, other separatist regions in ex-Soviet states keenly watching the election and from former Yugoslavia's Kosovo region -- where talks later this year may lead to independence. "As far as the question of future relations with the Russian Federation, I can say it is already a subject of immediate discussion. We believe this, and I mean the leaders of the republic (of Dnestr). Our citizens consider their future as part of the Russian Federation," Igor Smirnov, Dnestr's self-styled president, told reporters in his office. "This positive answer poses no threat to Dnestr's sovereignty. Only a recognised state can join Russia. If you see carefully, we spoke about a rejoining Russia, only after our independence has been completely recognised," he added. Officials in Dnestr acknowledge that attachment to Russia will not come any time soon. But they calculated the decisive result would improve their hand in stalled talks with Moldova over their region's future. Smirnov said an entire generation had grown up knowing only one country, Dnestr not Moldova, and added that only a madman would try to bring the two together. Like other rebel ex-Soviet regions, Dnestr points to precedents in former Yugoslavia, following Montenegro's plebiscite backing independence and talks likely to yield a similar outcome in Kosovo. Georgia's separatist South Ossetia region plans a referendum in November. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe is the chief mediator at the talks on the Dnestr dispute, also attended by Russia, Ukraine, the European Union and the United States. Moldova accuses Moscow of abetting Dnestr. Backed by Western countries, it alleges the region is a haven for smuggling. Dnestr's voters, with memories of a brief 1992 war with Moldova fresh in their minds, saw the referendum as a way of setting down cultural and historical differences with Moldova. Dnestr declared independence in 1990 in Soviet times in response to fears that Moldova's Romanian-speaking majority would join up again with their Romanian neighbours to the south. Russian troops halted fighting in 1992 and now guard border crossings and supplies of Soviet munitions despite pledges to leave and Moldovan complaints that they impede a settlement.

ITN Source | September 19, 2006

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