"Let us live in poverty, but in a country at peace," says Vasily Sova, Moldova's negotiator with its breakaway territory of Transdniestria, when asked about the billions lavished on Georgia after its August war with Russia. Unlike the belligerent Georgia, Moldova has taken a gentle approach to its Russian-backed separatists, and it is not trying to join nato. Yet it is barely nearer than Georgia to a deal over lost territory.rnRussia's prime minister, Vladimir Putin, went to Moldova this week to push a new initiative. Russia does not recognise Transdniestria's independence, but it wants to keep troops there, a condition all otherparties reject. The Moldovan and Transdniestrian leaders have not met recently. Moldova's president, Vladimir Voronin, was turned back when he tried to visit his home village in Iransdniestria. Mr Voronin called Iransdniestria's leader, Igor Smirnov, "an evil force who has turned his region into a festering wound on the body of Moldova".
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