Key to Voronin's plans, which had backing from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Ukraine, and Russia, was the federalization of Moldova with the inclusion of Transnistria.

[3] Relations between Moldova and Transnistria further worsened after the latter closed all Romanian-language schools on its territory the next year, leading to Voronin to declare a halt to negotiations.

Petro Poroshenko, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, played a leading role in the creation of the plan, and revealed it at the 22 April 2005 GUUAM summit.

[3] The Yushchenko Plan was met with support from Russia,[5] Moldova, and the OSCE, and became the basis of the 5+2 format of negotiations beginning the same year.

[3] On 22 July 2005, the first stage of the Yushchenko Plan was fulfilled after the Moldovan parliament passed the Law on the Basic Provisions of the Special Legal Status of Settlements on the Left Bank of the Dniester, establishing sweeping autonomy for Transnistria within Moldova, giving the Supreme Soviet of Transnistria official authority, and establishing an international commission under the auspices of the OSCE and Council of Europe to ensure the freedom and fairness of elections, as well as compliance with Moldovan law.

Relations further worsened after the visit of Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Borys Tarasyuk to Moldova's capital Chișinău in June 2006, in which he called for the inclusion of Romania in the 5+2 negotiation format (a proposal previously rejected by both Russia and Ukraine) and accused Transnistria and Russia of using threats of an economic blockade to prevent further negotiations.

[9] Despite the failure of the Yushchenko Plan, the United States continued to express support for it in 2006, and for the replacement of exclusively-Russian forces in Transnistria with an international peacekeeping contingent including Russia.