Transnistria: Encyclopedia II - Transnistria - History

Transnistria - History

Transnistria - Ancient history

Tyras was an ancient Greek colony of Miletus, probably founded about 600 BC, situated on mouth of the Dniestr river (Tyras). It fell under the dominion of native kings whose names appear on its coins, and it was destroyed by the Dacians about 50 BC. In AD 56 it has been restored by the Romans and henceforth formed part of the province of Lower Moesia.

Transnistria - From the Middle Ages to the 20th Century

In the early Middle Ages, Transnistria was populated by Slavic tribes of Ulichs and Tivertsy as well as by Turkic nomads such as Pechenegs and the Cumans. It was part of Kievan Rus' at times, and a formal part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 15th century. Northern Transnistria was part of the historical region of Podolia while the southern area, which came under the control of the Ottoman Empire in 1504, was part of what came to be known as Yedisan. The Ottoman portion was eventually ceded to the Russian Empire in 1792. At that time, the population was sparse and mostly Romanian/Moldavian and Ukrainian, but also included a nomadic Nogai Tatar population.

The end of the 18th century marked the Russian Empire's colonization of the region, with the aim of defending what was at the time the Imperial Russian southwestern border, as a result of which large migrations were encouraged into the region, including people of Ukrainian, Russian, and German ethnicity.

Transnistria - Autonomous Moldavian Republic in Soviet Ukraine

In 1918 the Directory of Ukraine proclaimed the sovereignty of the Ukrainian People's Republic over the left bank of the Dniester. At that time, the population was 48% Ukrainian, 30% Romanian/Moldavian, 9% Russian, and 8.5% Jewish. One third of that region (around Balta, with a Ukrainian majority) belongs today to Ukraine. In 1922 the Ukrainian SSR was created, and in 1924 the region became part of the Moldavian ASSR within the Ukrainian SSR. Romanian speakers made up a significant portion of the population of the region and Romanian-language schools were opened.

Transnistria - World War II

The Moldavian SSR, which was set up by a decision of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on 2 August 1940, was formed from a part of Bessarabia taken from Romania on 28 June, following the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, where the majority of the population were Romanian speakers, and a strip of land on the left bank of the Dniester in the Ukrainian SSR, which was transferred to it in 1940. (the strip is roughly equivalent to the territory currently claimed by the MRT).

In 1941, after Axis forces invaded Bessarabia in the course of the Second World War, they advanced over the Dniester river. Romania annexed the entire region between Dniester and Southern Bug rivers, including the city of Odessa, as Transnistria. By March 1943, a total of 185,000 Ukrainian and Romanian Jews had been deported and murdered under Romanian and German occupation of Transnistria. The Soviet Union regained the area in 1944 when the Soviet Army advanced into the territory driving out the Axis forces.

Transnistria - Soviet Moldova

The Moldovian SSR became the subject of a systematic policy of Russification, even more so than in Tsarist times. Cyrillic was made the official script for Moldavian. It had an official status in the republic, together with Russian, which was the language of "interethnic communication".

Most industry that was built in the Moldavian SSR was concentrated in Transnistria, while the rest of Moldova had a predominantly agricultural economy. In 1990, Transnistria accounted for 40% of Moldova's GDP and 90% of its electricity production.

The 14th Soviet army had been based there since 1956 and was kept there after the fall of the Soviet Union to safeguard what is probably the biggest weapons stockpile and ammunition depot in Europe, which was set up in Soviet times for possible operations on the Southeastern Theater in the event of World War III. Russia was negotiating with the Republic of Moldova, Transnistria and Ukraine for transit rights to be able to evacuate the military materiel back to Russia. In 1984, the 14th Army headquarters were moved from Moldovan capital Chişinău to Tiraspol.

Transnistria - The breakaway

Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of perestroika in the USSR allowed the political liberalisation at the regional level in 1980s. The incomplete democratisation was preliminary for the exclusivist nationalism to become the most dynamic political force. Some national minorities opposed these changes in the Moldovan political class of the republic, since during Soviet times, local politics had often been dominated by non-Romanians, particularly by those of Russian origin. The language laws — introducing the Latin alphabet for written Moldovan and requiring proficiency in the Moldovan language for public servants— presented a particularly volatile issue as a great proportion of the non-Romanian population of the Moldavian SSR did not speak Moldovan. The problem of official languages in the Republic of Moldova has become a Gordian knot, being exaggerated and, perhaps, intentionally politicized. This displeasure with the new policies was manifested in a more visible way in Transnistria, where urban centers such as Tiraspol, had a Slavic majority. The scenes of protests against the central government of the republic were more acute here.

According to the census in 1989, the population in Transnistria was 39.9% Moldovan, 28.3% Ukrainian, 25.4% Russian, 1.9% Bulgarian.

On 2 September 1990 the Moldovan Republic of Transnistria was proclaimed. On 25 August 1991 the Supreme Council of the MRT adopted the declaration of independence of the MRT. On 27 August 1991 the Moldovan Parliament adopted the Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Moldova, whose territory included Transnistria. The Moldovan Parliament asked the Government of the USSR "to begin negotiations with the Moldovan Government in order to put an end to the illegal occupation of the Republic of Moldova and withdraw Soviet troops from Moldovan territory".

After Moldova became a member of the United Nations (2 March 1992), Moldovan President Mircea Snegur (president from 1990 to 1996) authorized concerted military action against rebel forces which had been attacking loyal Moldovan police outposts on the left bank of the river Nistru, and on a smaller section of the right bank around the southern city of Tighina (Bender). The rebels, aided by contingents of Russian Cossacks and the Russian 14th Army, consolidated their control over most of the disputed area.

Forces of the 14th Army (which had owed allegiance to the USSR, CIS and the Russian Federation in turn) stationed in Transdistria, had fought with and on behalf of the Transnistrian separatist forces. The separatists were able to arm themselves with weapons taken from the stores of the former 14th Army. The Russian 14th Army's role in the area was crucial to the outcome of the war. The Moldovan army was in a position of inferiority which prevented it from regaining control of Transnistria. A cease-fire agreement was signed on 21 July 1992.

Transnistria - Aftermath

Despite the ceasefire agreement, Russia had continued to provide military, political and economic support to the separatist regime, thus enabling it not only to survive but to strengthen itself and acquire a certain amount of autonomy from Moldova. General Aleksandr Lebed, the commander of the Russian Operational Group (the former Russian 14th Army) since June 1992, who acted as a Transnistrian politician, said many times that his army was able to reach Bucharest in two hours. In the security zone controlled by the Russian peacekeeping forces, the MRT regime continued to deploy its troops illegally and to manufacture and sell weapons in breach of the agreement of 21 July 1992. In February 2003, the USA and EU imposed visa restrictions against the Transnistrian leadership.

Although only 2,600 troops of the Russian 14th Army remain in the operational group, their presence has been used by Russia as an instrument of influence over the region. In the security zone controlled by the Russian peacekeeping forces, the MRT regime continued to deploy its troops and to manufacture and sell weapons in breach of the agreement of 21 July 1992. In February 2003, the USA and EU imposed visa restrictions against the Transnistrian leadership.

The agreement to withdraw all Russian forces was signed in 1994, but while the number of troops decreased, an immense stockpile of ammunition and equipment remained. The arsenal of the former 14th Army consists of 49,476 firearms, 805 artillery guns, 4,000 cars, and 655 units of various military equipment, which is enough to arm four rifle divisions.^[1]

The OSCE is trying to facilitate a negotiated settlement and has had an observer mission in place for several years. The Russian army was still stationed in Moldovan territory in breach of the undertakings to withdraw them completely given by Russia at the OSCE summits in 1999 and 2001.

Transnistria - The Kozak Memorandum

In July 2002, OSCE, Russian, and Ukrainian mediators approved a document setting forth a blueprint for reuniting Moldova under a federal system. However, the fundamental disagreements over the division of powers remained, which rendered the settlement elusive.

In mid-November 2003, Russia unexpectedly provided a much more detailed memorandum proposing a united asymmetric federal Moldavian state with an attached key proposal to locate a Russian military base on Moldavian soil for the next 20 years [2]. First published in Russian on the website of Transnistria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the text was promoted by a Russian politician Dmitry Kozak, known to be a close ally of President Vladimir Putin and one of the key figures in his presidential team. The memorandum presented an end to the previous Moscow policy, which assumed that the region would have equal status in federation with the rest of the country.

It was proposed that the competences of government of the federal Moldova would be divided into three categories: those of the federation, those of individual subjects and those of joint competences. The plan presented several issues risking to cause blockage in policy-making. A lower house, elected by proportional representation, would pass legislation by simple majority. All laws would also need the assent of the senate, however, whose representation would be highly disproportionate with respect to population figures: 13 senators elected by the federal lower house, 9 by Transnistria and 4 by Gagauzia. According to the 1989 census, Transnistria had 14% and Gagauzia 3.5% of Moldova's total population. By this plan, Transnistria would be an outright blocking minority.

Large demonstrations against the Kozak memorandum took place in Chişinău in the days following the publication of the Russian proposal. Moldova's leadership declined to sign memorandum without the coordination with the European organizations. A visit by President Putin to Moldova was cancelled. Later in 2005 president Vladimir Voronin made a statement that 2003 Kozak memorandum was rejected due to its contradiction with Moldovan constitution which defines Moldova as a neutral state and could not allow any foreign troops on its soil, while the country cannot join military alliances. Moldova and the Kozak memorandum was a key issue at the OSCE ministerial meeting in Maastricht in December 2003, and disagreement between Russia on the one hand and the EU and the US on the other on Moldova was one of the principal reasons why a final joint declaration was not adopted after the meeting.

Transnistria - 2004 crisis

In the summer of 2004, the Transnistrian authorities forcibly closed six schools that taught Moldovan language using the Latin script. A number of the 3,400 enrolled children were affected by this measure and the teachers and parents who opposed the closures were arrested. During the crisis, the Moldovan government decided to create a blockade that would isolate the autonomous republic from the rest of the country. The blockade was ineffective because of a lack of cooperation from Ukraine's government. Transnistria retaliated by a series of actions meant to destabilize the economic situation in Moldova, in particular, by cutting the power supply from the power plants that were built predominantly in Transnistria in Soviet times. As a result, this crisis generated power outages in parts of Moldova.

The closed Romanian schools were reopened but they still have the status of "private schools" and consequently do not receive funding from PMR authorities. As publicized by the government in 2006, there are 6.700 students at ten secondary or high schools. In the state financed system, there are 33 schools in Moldovan (Cyrillic script) of the total of 186 schools. [3]

Transnistria - Ukraine-sponsored talks

In May, 2005, the Ukrainian government of Viktor Yushchenko proposed a seven-point plan by which the separation of Transnistria and Moldova would be settled through a negotiated settlement and free elections. Under the plan, Transnistria would remain an autonomous region of Moldova. The United States, the EU and the MRT expressed some level of agreement with the project. In July, Ukraine opened five new customs posts on the Transnistria-Ukraine border. The posts, staffed by both Moldovan and Ukrainian officials, are intended to reduce the hitherto high incidence of smuggling between the breakaway state and its neighbors.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki