VIENNA, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Europe's top rights and security body said on Monday it has agreed with Russia and Ukraine to push for direct talks between Moldova and its breakaway region Transdniestria in the wake of the war in Georgia last month. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said the European Union and the United States also attended the talks it chaired in Vienna on ex-Soviet Moldova and Transdniestria. "All participants in the meeting have agreed to start talks on the status of the Transdniestrian region in the 5+2 format and will try to convince the sides to participate actively," Heikki Talvitie said in a statement. Talks in the "5+2 format" include Moldova and Transdniestria in addition to the "3+2" grouping of the OSCE, Russia and Ukraine plus the EU and the United States as observers. An adviser to Talvitie said no date for was set at the meeting for starting the direct talks. But he said the OSCE expected they could begin in October at the earliest. "Obviously the Georgia crisis has been one factor," the adviser, Mikko Kivikoski, said when asked what made the agreement possible. "The message is coming from different corners suggesting that everyone is ready to have talks." "The important thing is that we have an agreement among the mediators and observers to really start talks on status," he said. "Of course it will be a rocky road and it won't be easy but at least they are moving now." Like Georgia's long-festering dispute over two rebel, pro-Russian regions, Moldova's is a "frozen conflict" left over from the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. But in contrast to the escalation in Georgia, the Kremlin has set out to step up a mediation drive over Transdniestria. President Dmitry Medvedev has met Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin and separatist leader Igor Smirnov in recent weeks. Transdniestria broke away from Moldova in the early 1990s and Russia sent troops to end the conflict. Some have stayed in the region as a peacekeeping force, reserving the role of key mediator for Moscow. In 2003, Moldova rejected a compromise drafted by Russia, under which Transdniestria would re-integrate into the country but enjoy broad autonomy rights and guarantees that it could quit if Moldova decided to merge with neighbouring Romania, with which it has close ethnic ties. (Reporting by Boris Groendahl; editing by Sami Aboudi)
One of a group of eight protesters wears a mock prison outfit with chains and a mask of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney in Rome September 8, 2008. Italy was the ...
