Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 21 revoked a 2012 decree on respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries.
The decree outlined Russia’s foreign policy 11 years ago which assumed Moscow’s closer relations with the European Union and the United States.
The order revoking the 2012 document was published on the Kremlin's official website and states that the decision was taken to “ensure the national interests of Russia in connection with the profound changes taking place in international relations.”
The decree also included a Moldova component, committing Russia to seeking ways to resolve the separatist issue “based on respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and neutral status of the Republic of Moldova in determining the special status of Transdniestria.”
The Russian-speakers of Transdniestria seceded from Moldova in 1990, one year before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, amid fears that Moldova would merge with Romania, whose language and culture it broadly shares.
A brief war pitted newly independent Moldova against the separatists in 1992. But there has been virtually no violence in the past 30 years, with Russian peacekeepers still posted in the tiny sliver of land, which has no international recognition.
The Kremlin has said that Russia’s relations with Moldova, which last week approved a new pro-Western prime minister that vowed to pursue a drive to join the EU, were very tense. It accused Moldova of pursuing an anti-Russian agenda.
