CHISINAU. Dec 7 (Interfax-AVN) - Moldovan Foreign Minister Andrei Stratan called the presence of Russian troops on the country's territory a "military occupation" and called on the OSCE to press for their withdrawal.
He made this statement at the OSCE Council's meeting in Sofia on Tuesday, the Moldovan Foreign Ministry's press service reports.
"The Moldovan leadership regards the presence of Russian troops in Moldova as a military occupation contradicting the political will of the local constitutional authorities and challenging universally accepted international norms and principles," the minister said.
As for "arguments cited to justify dragging out the troop and ammunition pullout for more than two years," he described them as being in contravention to the law.
The Russian military presence in Moldova "exerts pressure on the settlement of the Transdniestrian crisis and manipulates Transdniestria's criminal leaders," he said.
"There are no feasible arguments that would justify the prolongation of the Russian military presence on the country's territory, as well as gross violations of human rights and freedoms encouraged by Transdniestria's separatist regime, which relies on the Russian military presence and is supported by economic groups in Russia and Ukraine," Stratan said.
He called on OSCE member-states to press for a Russian troop withdrawal from Moldova as the main condition for ratifying the treaty on the reduction of conventional armed forces in Central Europe.