CHISINAU, August 28. /TASS/. Vadim Krasnoselsky, president of unrecognized Transnistria, called on Moldova to provide a legal assessment of the killing of civilians during the 1992 armed conflict on the Dniester.

"More than 800 people were killed, and not a single criminal case has been opened. Ultimately, there has been no legal assessment. Therefore, Russian peacekeepers will, of course, remain here as long as there is not even a legal assessment. <...> Without a legal assessment, we will not even discuss the future status of the peacekeepers. They must serve in Transnistria and preserve peace," he said, commenting on Chisinau’s calls to replace Russian peacekeepers with a civilian observer mission.

Krasnoselsky said that final settlement of the Transnistrian issue would be the second condition for ending the peacekeeping mission.

Russian troops were deployed to the conflict zone on July 29, 1992, under the Agreement on the Principles of Peaceful Settlement of the Armed Conflict in Moldova’s Transnistrian Region. The agreement was signed on July 21, 1992, by the presidents of Russia and Moldova in the presence of the Transnistrian leader. Russian peacekeepers now maintain peace in the security zone along the Dniester together with Moldovan and Transnistrian peacekeepers and a group of Ukrainian military observers.

The Operational Group of Russian Forces, numbering about 1,000 soldiers and officers, is also stationed in the region. Its duties include supporting the peacekeeping operation and guarding ammunition depots relocated there following the withdrawal of Soviet forces from European countries. The process of removing and destroying the munitions was blocked by the Transnistrian authorities in 2004 after relations between the two sides of the Dniester deteriorated.