Together forever? Transdniestria agreed to a 2003 plan for becoming part of a common state with Moldova. But Moldova surprisingly turned it down, for reasons that were never fully explained.

f Moldova's working-age population, approximately half now work abroad. In this commentary, Chisinau-intellectual Gheorghe Stanila explains why Moldovans are leaving. Moldova is currently not the kind of country that anyone from Transnistria - in his right mind - would want to become a part of.

It is necessary in the process of international negotiations to gather a unique "club" of countries that could recognize Pridnestrovie, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. So says Russian MP Konstantin Zatulin, a specialist on the democratic right to self-determination. In this interview, he adds that such countries already exist.

The President of Pridnestrovie is willing to sit down with Moldova and discuss future relations. "But we have nothing to talk about before Moldova begins to honor its own earlier signed agreements with us," he says. According to Igor Smirnov, a total of 148 previously signed documents between the two sides have been ignored by Moldova.