TIRASPOL. Nov 23 (Interfax-AVN) - Plans to deploy GUAM peacekeeping forces in the conflict zones in the breakaway provinces of Transdniestria, South Ossetia and Abkhazia are unacceptable, Transdniestrian President Igor Smirnov told a news conference in Tiraspol on Thursday.
"The GUAM member-states' plans to deploy their so-called peacekeeping contingents in the conflict zones are a deliberate provocative act," he said.
Smirnov said his recent meetings with the leaders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Eduard Kokoity and Sergei Bagapsh in Moscow confirmed that their positions on the issue coincide.
"We view the present format of peacekeeping forces as effective and optimal. If anybody has any doubts, monitoring aimed at confirming the effectiveness of the peacekeeping operation can be conducted," he said.
The Russian authorities share this view, Smirnov said. Speaking on behalf of Russia, "State Secretary of the Russian Foreign Ministry Grigory Karasin said that it is unacceptable to deploy GUAM police forces and that it is important to keep today's peacekeeping format intact," he said.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Anatoliy Hrytsenko said in an earlier statement that Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova could replace Russia's peacekeeping forces in the conflict zones on the territory of Georgia and Moldova. GUAM's forces would operate under UN and OSCE auspices, he said.
Smirnov said that in Moscow, Karasin and he had discussed certain points of a cooperation protocol signed by Transdniestrian and Russian officials in May. "Five Transdniestrian ministers will visit the Russian capital in the near future as a follow-up to this dialogue," he said.
In Moscow, the presidents of the three breakaway provinces signed a protocol on establishing a cooperation committee and discussed the results of the September 17 referendum in Transdniestria and South Ossetia's referendum on November 12, as well as ways to provide the international community with objective information on the situation in Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transdniestria, Smirnov said.
"The three presidents also agreed upon a joint action plan aimed at bolstering relations with the Russian Federation and improving their dialogue with international organizations," he said.