CHISINAU, July 29. /TASS/. Leader of the unrecognized republic of Transnistria Vadim Krasnoselsky has praised the effectiveness of the peacekeeping operation in the Dniester under the auspices of Russia.

In his congratulatory message to the Russian military, who stopped the kith-on-kin war in the Dniester 27 years ago, Krasnoselsky said: "The people of Transnistria view the activity of Russian peacekeepers as a reliable and effective mechanism of ensuring peaceful life and preventing the events similar to the 1992 war."

The Transnistrian leader noted that Russia’s "resolute, firm and principled position" has made it possible to stop an armed conflict that "resulted in numerous deaths among the civilian population." Krasnoselsky has described the peacekeeping operation in the Dniester as "the most successful throughout the entire history of peacekeeping efforts."

Russian peacekeepers were deployed to the conflict zone on July 29, 1992, under an agreement on the principles of a peaceful settlement of the armed conflict in the Transnistrian region of Moldova that the presidents of Russia and Moldova signed in the presence of Transnistria’s leader on July 21, 1992. Currently, Russian peacekeepers are maintaining peace in the security zone alongside peacekeepers from Moldova and Transnistria and a group of military observers from Ukraine. Throughout these years not a single outbreak of violence has occurred there.

On Sunday, Krasnoselsky presented awards to the distinguished military from the Russian and Transnistrian peacekeeping contingent.

Transnistria, a largely Russian-speaking region, broke away from Moldova following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Its relations with Moldova’s central government in Chisinau have been highly mixed and extremely tense at times ever since. In 1992 and 1993, tensions erupted into a bloody armed conflict that claimed the lives of hundreds of people on both sides.