Tiraspol

Senator Christopher Coons on Tuesday tabled a draft resolution at the US Senate calling on Russia to fulfil the commitments it made at an OSCE summit in 1999 and pull its soldiers out of Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria.

The resolution urges Russia to "withdraw its military forces and munitions from within the internationally recognised territory of Moldova".

Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria celebrated the 28th anniversary from its so-called independence on September 2, 1990, on Sunday.

Russian troops in the Moldovan breakaway region of Transnistria began their third yearly joint military games on Wednesday with the local separatist troops, angering the government in Chisinau.

Franco Frattini, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office's Special Representative for the Transdniestrian Settlement Process, said on Tuesday that Moldova and breakaway Transnistria must be ready to implement all their bilateral agreements by May as a precursor to possible progress on a Russian troop withdrawal from Transnistria.

Russia's Central Election Commission is sending 192,000 ballot papers to Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria, where people with Russian citizenship will be able to vote in the March 18 presidential elections.

The leader of the region, Vadim Krasnoselsky, said on Monday in Moscow that Transnistria wants to provide more votes than ever before at the Russian presidential polls.

Moldovans are moving over to Facebook and dumping its Rusian rival, according to a new survey.

The number of Facebook accounts in Moldova rose in 2017 by 19.3 per cent from 2016 to 910,000, according to a report by Gramatic brand agency.

Moscow has dismissed the recent proposal of the Speaker of the Moldova parliament, Andrian Candu, for Russia to pay compensation for illegally stationing its army in Moldova's breakaway Transnistria region as "provocative".

Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said on Tuesday that such statements would not help resolve the Transnistrian conflict.

Russia has promised further financial aid to Moldova's breakaway Transnistria region, which has long depended on the Kremlin for survival.

During a visit of Transnistria leader Vadim Krasnoselky to Moscow on Saturday, Russian Vice-Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin promised further implementation of "humanitarian and cultural" projects that Russia says it is conducting in the region.

Russia has decided to open 24 polling stations in Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria for the Russian presidential elections on March 18 that President Vladimir Putin is sure to win.

Authorities in the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria have ordered all men aged between 18 and 50, including reservists, to take part in a general mobilization.

The decree has created anxiety among many people in Transnistria, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty station in Chisinau, Moldova.