Moldova and Ukraine signed Friday an agreement to set up five joint checkpoints on the border to intensify fight against illegal trade, the Moldovan News Agency reported.

The agreement is meant to restrict weapon exports, drug-smuggling and other illegal trade by the illegal "Dnestr Republic" in the territory of Moldova, the news agency said.

The checkpoints will be set up on the Ukrainian side that borders the trans-Dnestr region, where the "Dnestr Republic" was founded in September 1990 by ethnic Russians but not recognized by the international community.

The "Dnestr Republic" aimed to secede the eastern bank of the Dnestr river region from Moldova as ethnic Russians and Ukrainians living there fear they would become second-class citizens if Moldova's ethnic Romanian majority chose to unite with neighboring Romania.

Russia has stationed troops in the eastern trans-Dnestr region.

In 1992, a military conflict broke out between Ukrainian government forces and troops of the "Dnestr Republic."

With the establishing of the border checkpoints, exports from the trans-Dnestr region will have to be checked at the checkpoints before passing through the territory of Ukraine.

Moldova and Ukraine have a common border of 1,222 kilometers, including the border between Ukraine and the trans-Dnestr region.

The regime of the trans-Dnestr region controls the Ukrainian side of the 452-km-long border.

The trans-Dnestr region is a base for weapons production and provides weapons for the Chechen Republic of Russia and other turmoil-plagued regions, Romanian media reported.

In the past, the Ukrainian government only collected transit fees and export tax on illegal border trades. The new government formed at the beginning of this year, however, decided to cooperate with Moldova to strengthen border control.

Source: Xinhua