During his visit to Moldova last Saturday, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the United States, NATO and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) expected Russia to fulfill its obligations undertaken in Istanbul five years ago and withdraw its troops from Moldova.

Mr. Rumsfeld stressed that the United States was interested in a peaceful resolution of the Transnistrian conflict, and it would continue efforts to help resolve it.

Moldova does not recognize the Transnistrian republic, which was set up in the early 1990s. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Transnistria, mostly populated by Russian people, broke away from Moldova. An armed conflict erupted, in which more than 2,000 people died. The conflict was settled with the help of Russian troops. Late last year, the Moldovan government held talks with Russia on an agreement to create a federal state on the banks of the Dniester River.

Russia’s military presence in the former Soviet republics remains a stumbling block in Russia-NATO relations. At an OSCE summit in Istanbul in 1999, Russia undertook to withdraw its troops from Georgia and Transnistria by 2002.

Meanwhile, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday that Russia was concerned about NATO’s military activities along the perimeter of the Russian borders.

At the same time, members of the NATO-Russia Council stressed at their meeting in Istanbul that Russia and the alliance were not a threat to each other, and there was no reason for a conflict, Echo of Moscow radio reports.