Putin to Broker Moldova Dispute
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CHISINAU, Moldova — Russian President Vladimir V. Putin promised Saturday to help Moldova resolve a dispute over a breakaway, Russian-speaking enclave and affirmed his support for the territorial integrity of this impoverished former Soviet republic.
The Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking populations of the Trans-Dniester region declared independence in 1990, fearing that the Romanian-speaking leadership of the newly independent country would reunite with neighboring Romania.
A war erupted in 1991 in which about 1,500 people died. Russian troops stationed in Moldova since Soviet times intervened in 1992 to end the fighting.
Putin announced that he had appointed former Prime Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov to head a “settlement commission” to help resolve the status of Trans-Dniester.
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