Upset for Kremlin in Transdniestria

Yevgeny Shevchuk, president of Moldova’s breakaway Transdniestria region, pledged to seek international recognition and build close ties with Russia as he was sworn in yesterday.

Former parliament speaker Mr Shevchuk, 43, won a Christmas Day run-off against Moscow-backed incumbent speaker Anatoly Kaminsky. Transdniestria lies along Moldova’s border with Ukraine.

“In foreign policy, we will focus our efforts on winning recognition for Transdniestria and on friendship with our strategic partners in Russia,” Mr Shevchuk said at his inauguration ceremony.

Mr Kaminsky’s defeat was the second time in two months that a Moscow-backed candidate has lost a contest for the leadership of one of the Russian-sponsored separatist regions that claims independence from other former Soviet states.

A Kremlin-backed candidate lost a presidential election in Georgia’s tiny breakaway South Ossetia region in November.

Mr Shevchuk’s comments are certain to upset Moldovans who want to reintegrate the territory, most of whose 500,000 inhabitants speak Russian.

Reconciliation talks sponsored by the West and Russia stalled under Transdniestria’s previous leader Igor Smirnov, who had held power since 1992 until this month’s election.