George Kent: Russia is just not ready to withdraw its troops from Transdniestria

Russia is not ready to fulfill its obligations to withdraw the troops from the Transdniestrian region. George Kent, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, stated this in an interview with the Ukrainian office of Radio Liberty. "A month ago I was in Transdniestria. I have such a duty - to be the representative of the United States in this process, negotiations in the "5 + 2" format. And it is obvious that Russia is just not ready to fulfill its obligations. Russian President (Boris) Yeltsin promised 22 years ago during a meeting in Istanbul that by the end of 2001 all Russian troops would be withdrawn from Moldova. It turns out this year is the 20th anniversary of the failure to fulfill the promises of the Russian president," Kent said, as infotag.md reports. He notes that similar commitments were made "in 2008 regarding the situation in Abkhazia and the short Russian-Georgian war." "That is, [the process of negotiations and non-fulfillment of obligations ] in Moldova has been going on for 29 years, in Georgia - 13 years and already 7 years in the Donbass. There is also Crimea," the American diplomat said. According to him, the crucial thing about resolving conflict processes in the post-Soviet space is the result but not the mechanism. "Unfortunately, there are different mechanisms, and this is relevant not only in Donbass, but also in Transdniestria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia. President Zelensky, President Sandu, and President Zurabishvili discussed this in Batumi. And there is the Batumi Declaration," Kent noted.