Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin, in a Saturday radio program, denied any "tension" in Moldovan-Russian relations

Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin, in a Saturday radio program, denied any "tension" in Moldovan-Russian relations but lambasted a Moscow-proposed settlement formula for Moldova's conflict with its breakaway Transdniestria region. "It isn't tension but a pre-election situation," Voronin told Moscow radio station Ekho Moskvy in a comment on Moldovan-Russian relations. But "it is an indisputable fact that certain political and other forces in Moscow support our opponents," he said. "There remains one unsolved problem" in Moldovan-Russian relations -"the problem of Transdniestria," Voronin said. He blasted the "Kozak memorandum," a plan for a Moldovan- Transdniestrian settlement put forward by former senior Kremlin aide Dmitry Kozak and proposing a federal constitution for Moldova, where Transdniestria would be one of the constituent territories. "The memorandum is categorically unacceptable as it didn't guarantee territorial integrity to my country," Voronin said. "Behind the idea of federalization is a trick to enable Transdniestria to leave this federation and proclaim itself independent," he said. He also defended a Moldovan proposal for asking more countries to join in the search for a solution to the Transdniestria conflict.