On Wednesday morning, President Vladimir Voronin convened a news conference to cover the results of his yesterday's one-day working visit to Moscow. He stated to his selected listeners - the representatives of the State-run mass media only - that his visit "did not at all mean that we are giving up our strategic course for European integration".

The rest media had to content themselves only with a Press Release issued later today by the Presidential Press Service. According to it, the head of state "highly appreciated the discussion he had had with the Russian President".

The document quoted Vladimir Voronin as saying that "an important step was made in the development of bilateral relations with the Russian Federation, and a real and concrete step towards Transnistrian conflict settlement. At the same time, the visit to Moscow did not in the least mean Moldova's giving up its strategic course for European integration, and did not allow for whatever deviations from the Law on the main provisions of a future special legal status for Transnistria adopted [by the Moldovan Parliament] on July 22, 2005". In his words, the talk with Vladimir Voronin had 2 essential-most aspects - development of bilateral cooperation and the Transnistrian settlement. Voronin stressed President Putin's position was clear and unambiguous: the Russian Federation perceives the Republic of Moldova as an integral, sovereign, independent and neutral state, with which Moscow is interested to develop relations based on the strategic partnership stipulated in the Basic Political Treaty signed between the two nations.

"The discussion on the Transnistria problem was based precisely on that thesis. The clear-cut positions, expressed by the two sides, are an essential step to a lasting settlement of the Transnistria problem in the present-day 5+2 format [Moldova, Transnistria, Russia, Ukraine, the OSCE - as mediators, and the United States and the European Union as observers]", said Vladimir Voronin.

President Voronin has stated he had agreed with Vladimir Putin upon the solving of "all problems of the Moldo-Russian bilateral relations", the Presidential Press Service wrote in its media release covering the news conference the head of state held today during less than one hour for State-run mass media only.

According to the document, the President explained that the "all problems" included, in particular, the resumption of Moldovan wine and crop exports to Russia, the signature of a long-term gas supply contract between the two states, humanitarian cooperation, and other.

"We highlighted the need for solving the problems not at the level of isolated state structures but on the official state level. The problems will be considered by the inter-governmental Moldo-Russian commission for cooperation that will resume working in the nearest future", said the President of Moldova.

Voronin emphasized, "In the result of the meeting with President Vladimir Putin, one can now observe the de-frosting of situation around the exports of traditional Moldovan commodities to the Russian market".

During the Moscow meeting, the Moldovan President spoke out for signing a long-term contract on the supply of Russian natural gas to Moldova, and on collecting the value-added tax on the Russian gas at the destination place, i.e. in Moldova. Voronin underlined the Republic of Moldova is the only CIS country to which the VAT would not be returned, and Moldova thus loses about US$50 million a year.

On the whole, Vladimir Voronin assessed very highly the meeting with his Russian colleague which was "very friendly and benevolent, and its results are inspiring optimism about the solution of the above-mentioned problems. That meeting was a very serious step toward warmer strategic relations between our states".

He underscored the meeting was "unexpected and spontaneous... Myself and President Putin, we see each other every year at CIS summits, at which we have bilateral meetings as well. For instance, such was exactly so at the CIS Summit in Kazan city [Republic of Tatarstan in Central Russia] last autumn".

Unlike other similar meetings, this yesterday's one was "particularly significant and important... All this does not mean that the problems, which have accumulated in our relations lately, are insoluble by using other means. Simply, many such problems lately use to be tackled on the level of some economic structures. Meanwhile, time has come to discuss them at the level of the heads of state, too".

Voronin categorically refuted assertions that the restoration of friendly relations with Russia will, allegedly, signify renouncement of the Republic of Moldova's European-integration vector.

"Moldova shall never change its European integration vector. This is an irreversible process, the more so that our ties with Russia have never been regarded from that point of view. Lately, the Russian Federation is itself accelerating its cooperation with European structures", he said.

Vladimir Voronin told the journalists the Russian President was particularly interested in hearing more about the general situation in Moldova (especially political situation), current developments in the farm sector in connection with an ongoing grain harvesting campaign, and other domestic Moldovan problems.