The Supreme Council of Transnistria has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognize its independence. Transnistrian legislators refer to the right for self-determination and the 2006 referendum results when 97% of the population vote for independence. Sergey Cheban, head of the Transnistrian parliament commission for foreign policy and international affairs, said yesterday that recognition of the independent state was the main goal.

Sergey Arutyunov, head of the section for peoples of the Caucasus at the RAS Institute for Ethnology and Anthropology, called the request untimely because it would create more problems than it could resolve. He noted that it should be a topic for discussions at the UN. The expert admitted that the Tiraspol’s initiative was expectable in the light of the Ukraine crisis.

Dmitry Babich, an observer of Russia Today, said that the request of Transnistria was one of the risks from annexation of Crimea. Separatists hope that they would join Russia. The observer considers recognition of the breakaway republic a very risky step, considering the tensions caused by Crimea and the Eastern Ukraine.

Arutyunov sees favorable prospects for the request. He said that details of the telephone conversation of presidents Vladimir Putin and Obama were unknown. But if Obama was asking Putin to abstain from further steps, recognition of Transnistria is unlikely, in the expert’s words. Babich does not rule out that Russian legislators may visit Transnistria.

The Supreme Council of Transnistria has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognize its independence. Transnistrian legislators refer to the right for self-determination and the 2006 referendum results when 97% of the population vote for independence. Sergey Cheban, head of the Transnistrian parliament commission for foreign policy and international affairs, said yesterday that recognition of the independent state was the main goal.Sergey Arutyunov, head of the section for peoples of the Caucasus at the RAS Institute for Ethnology and Anthropology, called the request untimely because it would create more problems than it could resolve. He noted that it should be a topic for discussions at the UN. The expert admitted that the Tiraspol’s initiative was expectable in the light of the Ukraine crisis.Dmitry Babich, an observer of Russia Today, said that the request of Transnistria was one of the risks from annexation of Crimea. Separatists hope that they would join Russia. The observer considers recognition of the breakaway republic a very risky step, considering the tensions caused by Crimea and the Eastern Ukraine.Arutyunov sees favorable prospects for the request. He said that details of the telephone conversation of presidents Vladimir Putin and Obama were unknown. But if Obama was asking Putin to abstain from further steps, recognition of Transnistria is unlikely, in the expert’s words. Babich does not rule out that Russian legislators may visit Transnistria