2006 Press Releases

Assistant Secretary of State Paula DeSutter Visits Moldova
Meets Top Leaders

May 26, 2006

Assistant Secretary of State Paula DeSutter Visits Moldova

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Paula A. DeSutter, who is responsible for verification, compliance, and implementation of arms control treaties, visited Chisinau on May 25-26, to discuss a number of issues of mutual concern with Moldovan leaders.

The Assistant Secretary and her delegation met with President Voronin, Foreign Minister Stratan, Reintegration Minister Sova and Members of Parliament. A/S DeSutter thanked President Voronin for the opportunity to visit Moldova and told him that the United States considers Moldova a good friend and a staunch partner in the Global War on Terrorism.

During a roundtable with Moldovan media, the Assistant Secretary said she  came to Moldova ahead of next week’s Review Conference in Vienna of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) to underscore continuing U.S. commitment to Moldova’s sovereignty.  She said the United States shares Moldova’s view that nations should be able to choose freely whether or not to allow foreign forces on their territory.  “Host nation consent is a core principle of the CFE Treaty,” she added.

A/S DeSutter underlined the fact that when the Adapted CFE Treaty was signed at the OSCE Istanbul Summit in 1999, important commitments were made.  She said:  “ The Russian Federation committed to complete withdrawal of its military forces from Moldova, and also made important commitments with regard to Georgia.  Since then, Russia has made significant progress toward military withdrawal from Moldova in 2003” but she underlined that “there has been no movement whatsoever since early 2004.” 

The Assistant Secretary made clear that NATO Allies will not move forward on ratifying the Adapted CFE Treaty until Russia fulfills its remaining Istanbul commitments on Georgia and Moldova:  “This is an issue that NATO and Russia discuss regularly in the NATO-Russia Council,” she said, adding that the United States has also raised this issue with Russia in bilateral exchanges and offered to cover the costs of the Russian military withdrawal through an OSCE Voluntary Fund.  In her meetings with the Moldovan leadership, she assured them that the U.S. would continue to press for resumption of Russia’s military withdrawal. 

A/S DeSutter reiterated the U.S. Government’s belief that resumption of Russian withdrawal, that would send an important signal to the Transnistrian leadership that the status quo – of a divided Moldova – will not last forever, and that cooperative and constructive engagement in settlement negotiations is essential.  “The United States supports a peaceful resolution of the Transnistrian conflict that fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova,” she concluded.

26 May 2006