Vitaly Ignatiev

Moldova has banned officials of the pro-Russian separatist regime in Transnistria from obtaining special permits for work trips outside the country.

Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria has asked its ally and sponsor Russia to allow it to issue Transnistrian "passports" at the diplomatic office it opened in January in Moscow.

The region, which broke away from Moldova in 1992, backed by Russia, has not been recognised by any member states of the United Nations - Russia included.

Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria is to open a diplomatic office in the centre of Moscow on New Arbat Street alongside the "embassies" of other unrecognised similar entities such as Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The mission will open this month, the chief of the Transnistrian diplomacy, Vitaly Ignatiev, said on Sunday.

The authorities in Moldova are to resume negotiations with the breakaway region in Vienna on November 27-28 in a "5+2" format, encompassing Russia, Moldova, Transnistria, Ukraine and the OSCE, plus observers from the European Union and the United States.