Moldova's rebel Dnestr region voted for a new parliament on Sunday in an election set to strengthen its self-styled independence and raise fresh doubts over the success of re-unification talks, Reuters reported. Russian-speaking Dnestr broke away from Romanian-speaking Moldova in 1990 and fought a brief war in 1992. Talks to settle the conflict have gained a new momentum this year after the European Union and the United States joined in. The tiny strip of land on the Ukrainian border has been the industrial powerhouse of Soviet-era Moldova and its re-integration is crucial for the prosperity of the nation. But the region's veteran leader, Igor Smirnov, made clear he would still accept nothing less than full independence. "Dnestr is an independent state," he told reporters after casting his ballot in the regional centre of Tiraspol. "We have never interfered in Moldova's domestic affairs and ask Moldova to adopt a similar attitude." Dnestr, where many communist, Soviet-era traditions are kept alive, is not recognised internationally and depends on backing from Russia, which keeps about 1,300 peacekeepers and a huge amount of military ammunition in the region.
