Giving the occupied Donbass a "special status" will create a situation in Ukraine similar to Transnistria in Moldova. This point of view was expressed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an interview with Kommersant.
Answering the journalist's question, whether it is possible to formulate Russia's position as follows: "No status - no settlement", the Russian Foreign Minister replied that Russia's position is somewhat wider.
"The position of Russia is somewhat wider. It consists in the fact that there are Minsk agreements… They mean restoring Ukraine's control over this entire region, while respecting its special status", - he stated.
"This is quite similar to Transnistria, by the way", - Lavrov added.
Historical note. Transnistria declared its independence from Moldova in 1990. Chișinău's attempt to regain control of the territories seized by the separatist rebellion turned into an armed conflict, in which the 14th army of the Russian Federation, called the "peacekeeping contingent", played a decisive role. The military support of the Russian Federation allowed the so-called Transnistrian Moldavian Republic to declare its complete secession from Moldova. The latter, in turn, did not recognize the PMR separation, therefore the issue of the status of this territory remains unresolved, and the conflict is frozen. At the same time, the Russian army is still in Transnistria, and the PMR leadership is conducting an openly pro-Russian policy. In December 2013, a law on the application of Russian federal legislation in the territory of the unrecognized "republic" was passed. In March 2014, the "Supreme Council of Transnistria" asked the Russian State Duma to develop a law that would allow the annexation of PMR to Russia.