Cocieri is a commune in the Republic of Moldova , and the administrative center of Dubăsari District . It is located on the eastern bank of the Dniester River , consisting of two villages, Cocieri and Vasilievca .
84-467: During 1992 War of Transnistria inhabitants of this village rebelled against the separatist authorities of Transnistria . The military unit of the 14th former Soviet Army which was located in the village was attacked by local inhabitants who armed themselves and opposed the forces of Transnistria. As result, after the war, Cocieri remained in the area controlled by the Republic of Moldova . According to
168-735: A linguistic Moldo–Romanian identity . The second law stipulated the return to the Latin Romanian alphabet . Moldovan language is the term used in the former Soviet Union for a virtually identical dialect of the Romanian language during 1940–1989. On 27 April 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR adopted the traditional tricolour (blue, yellow and red) flag with the Moldavian coat of arms and later changed in 1991
252-523: A reformed Cyrillic script was used to write the language, in contrast with the Latin script officially used in Romania. The linguist Leonid Madan was assigned the task of establishing a literary standard, based on the Moldavian dialects of Transnistria and Bessarabia, as well as Russian loanwords or Russian-based calque . In 1932, when in the entire Soviet Union there was a trend to move all languages to
336-458: A chance that even Romania and the entire Balkans would be revolutionized. For the Soviets the republic was to be a way for winning over Bessarabians of Romania and the first step towards a revolution in Romania. This purpose is explained in an article of the newspaper Odessa Izvestia in 1924, in which a Russian politician, Vadeev says that "all the oppressed Moldavians from Bessarabia look at
420-541: A great proportion of the non-Moldovan population of the Moldavian SSR did not speak Moldovan (Romanian). The problem of the official language in the MSSR had become a Gordian knot , being exaggerated and, perhaps, intentionally politicized. Some described the language laws as "discriminatory" and criticized their rapid implementation. Others, on the contrary, complained the laws were not followed. On 2 September 1990,
504-477: A quote demonstrating his support of the Transnistrian cause: "I am proud that we helped and armed Transnistrian guards against Moldovan fascists". He also called himself as "guarantor" of the "Dniester Republic". However, he bore no goodwill towards the Transnistrian leadership and frequently denounced them as "criminals" and "bandits". Another quote attributed to him describes his stance as follows: "I told
588-519: A result of the fighting, 27 PMR troops were taken prisoner and four Moldovan troops (Ghenadie Iablocikin, Gheorghe Cașu, Valentin Mereniuk and Mihai Arnăut) were killed, without Moldova being able to cross the bridge. After this second failed attempt, there was a lull in military activity until 2 March 1992, considered the official start date of the War of Transnistria. This day was the same day when Moldova
672-484: A study based on casualty reports, significant numbers of both Transnistrians and Moldovans fought together on both sides of the conflict. They suggest that the conflict is more political in nature. On 31 August 1989, the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR enacted two laws. One of them made Moldovan the official language, in lieu of Russian , the de facto official language of the Soviet Union. It also mentioned
756-564: A union between Moldova and Romania was inevitable. This possibility caused fears among the Russian-speaking population that they would be excluded from most aspects of public life. From September 1989, there were strong scenes of protests in the region against the central government's ethnic policies. The protests developed into the formation of secessionist movements in Gagauzia and Transnistria, which initially sought autonomy within
840-481: A village with an ethnic Russian majority near Bender. At least three villagers were killed. During the combat, civil buildings were damaged or destroyed by artillery fire. Later reports of ceasefire violations have been brought under control with no known loss of human lives. The Russian 14th Army's role in the area was crucial to the outcome of the war. The Moldovan army's position of inferiority prevented it from gaining control of Transnistria. Russia has since disbanded
924-671: Is distinct from the Romanian was heavily promoted in the republic. Modern linguists generally agree that there is little difference between the two, mainly in accent and vocabulary. The republic also promoted irredentism towards Romania, proclaiming that the Moldavians in Bessarabia were "oppressed by Romanian imperialists". As part of the effort to keep the language in Soviet Moldavia ("Moldavian Socialist culture") far from Romanian influences ("Romanian bourgeois culture"),
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#17327902540921008-526: Is estimated that in total nearly one thousand people were killed in the conflict, with the number of wounded approaching 3,000. Unlike many other post-Soviet conflicts, IDPs (internally displaced persons) did not reach large numbers in the war of Transnistria. Days after the truce had been agreed upon, a military confrontation between a local self-defence unit and the Moldovan army, took place in Gîsca (Gyska),
1092-767: Is still enforced in Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria , where it is claimed to be returning the language to its roots. On June 26, 1940 the Soviet government issued an ultimatum to the Romanian minister in Moscow, demanding Romania to immediately cede Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina . Italy and Germany , which needed a stable Romania and access to its oil fields urged King Carol II to comply. Under duress, with no prospect of aid from France or Britain, Romania ceded those territories. On June 28, Soviet troops crossed
1176-469: The 1989 Census in Transnistria , largely due to higher immigration during the Soviet era. While some believe that the combination of a distinct history (especially 1918–1940) and a fear of discrimination by Moldovans, gave rise to separatist sentiments, others believe that ethnic tensions alone fail to account for the dynamics of the conflict. According to John Mackinlay and Peter Cross, who conducted
1260-466: The 2014 Moldovan Census , the commune had a population of 3,885, mostly residing in Cocieri. 3,717 of these were ethnic Moldovans and 168 from other ethnic groups. Due to the economic situation around 800 inhabitants work abroad. In the village is a Romanian language school with 560 pupils and a kindergarten with 100 children. Since Cocieri is in a Republic of Moldova-controlled area, the school uses
1344-676: The Dniester and occupied Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and the Hertsa region . Territories where ethnic Ukrainians were the largest ethnic group (parts of Northern Bukovina and parts of Hotin , Cetatea Albă , and Izmail ), as well as some adjoining regions with a Romanian majority, such as the Hertsa region, were annexed to the Ukrainian SSR. The transfer of Bessarabia's Black Sea and Danube frontage to Ukraine ensured its control by
1428-581: The Latin script , the Latin script and literary Romanian language was introduced in Moldavian schools and public use. Madan's books were removed from libraries and destroyed. This movement, however, was short lived, and in the second half of the 1940s a new trend of moving languages to the Cyrillic script started in the Soviet Union. In 1937, during the Soviet Great Purge , many intellectuals in
1512-878: The Latin script . Separatist authorities from Tiraspol have in the past attempted to make life more difficult for Cocieri's inhabitants. Several properties belonging to Cocieri companies were confiscated by Transnistria's authorities and 7 km² (1,700 acres) of land remains unworked because of the obstacles that the separatists put against the free movement of the people of Cocieri. 47°18′N 29°07′E / 47.300°N 29.117°E / 47.300; 29.117 War of Transnistria Russian–Transnistrian victory [REDACTED] Armed Forces [REDACTED] Ministry of Interior [REDACTED] Russian Armed Forces [REDACTED] Russian volunteers The Transnistria War ( Romanian : Războiul din Transnistria ; Russian : Война в Приднестровье , romanized : Voyna v Pridnestrovye )
1596-640: The Moldavian ASSR was made in absence of "any real legal basis". The PMR interpreted this as meaning that the 1940-merger of the two sides of the Dniester river was dissolved. Moldova, however, did not agree, as large portions of the territory occupied in 1940 by the USSR remain in Ukraine, and almost immediately took steps to assert its sovereignty over the full territory of the former MSSR. At that time,
1680-650: The Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed, "Pridnestrovie" being the name for Transnistria in Russian. On 22 December 1990 president Gorbachev signed a decree that declared void the decisions of the Second Congress of People Deputies of Transnistria from 2 September. For two months, Moldovan authorities refrained from taking action against this proclamation. Transnistria became one of
1764-580: The Russian Army officially took the position of neutrality and non-involvement, many of its officers were sympathetic towards the fledgling Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR) and some even defected in order to help the PMR side openly. ROG Parcani sapper battalion, under the orders of General Butkevich, went over to the PMR side. This battalion later destroyed the bridges at Dubăsari , Gura Bâcului – Bâcioc and Coșnița . Moldovan forces used aircraft in
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#17327902540921848-523: The "unrecognized republics" that appeared throughout the USSR, alongside Abkhazia , South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh . These self-proclaimed states maintained close ties with each other. One of the first clashes between the Moldovan government and separatists occurred on 2 November 1990 in Dubăsari. Local women stormed the Court and Prosecutor's Office and stayed there for several hours. A police detachment
1932-505: The 14th Army were ready to cross the Dniestr and move deep into Moldova, the Moldovan military ordered an airstrike to destroy the bridge between Bender and Tiraspol. A three MiG-29 package took off from Chisinau, two of them armed with six OFAB -250 bombs each. The other aircraft was a MiG-29UB providing cover. No direct hits were achieved on the intended target, but the bridge received some blast and splinter damage from near misses. One of
2016-654: The 14th army and reduced troop strength in Transnistria to a corps of around 1,300 men who form part of the JCC . With the PMR's overwhelming military superiority, Moldova had little chance of achieving victory and the fighting was unpopular with the skeptical Moldovan population. According to a Human Rights Center "Memorial" report, local Bender eyewitnesses on 19 June 1992 saw Moldovan troops in armored vehicles deliberately firing at houses, courtyards and cars with heavy machine guns. The next day, Moldovan troops allegedly shot at civilians that were hiding in houses, trying to escape
2100-428: The 14th former Soviet Army intervened and drove the Moldovan army putting an end to the conflict. The first area of military action was on the eastern shore of the Dniester river, from north to south, the villages of Molovata Nouă , Cocieri (approx 6,000 inhabitants), Corjova and the city of Dubăsari (approx 30,000 inhabitants), together forming a contiguous mainly inhabited area 10–12 km (about 7 miles) along
2184-558: The Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolshevik) of Ukraine and signed by Grigory Kotovsky , Bădulescu Alexandru , Pavel Tcacenco , Solomon Tinkelman (Timov), Alexandru Nicolau , Alter Zalic , Ion Dic Dicescu (also known as Isidor Cantor), Theodor Diamandescu, Teodor Chioran, and Vladimir Popovici, all signatories being Bolshevik activists (several of them from Bucharest ). The memorandum emphasized on
2268-865: The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine on allocation of the Moldavian population into a special Autonomous republic as part of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic and obligated it to report already after a month about the course of the relevant work. The decision about creation of the Autonomous Moldavian Socialist Soviet Republic was accepted by the 8th convocation of the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee at its 3rd session on 12 October 1924. The Moldavian ASSR
2352-500: The Cossacks who came from Rostov-on-Don to support the PMR side stormed the police precinct in Dubăsari during the night. Moldovan president Mircea Snegur , afraid of starting an armed conflict, ordered the 26 policemen to surrender to the attacking Cossacks and PMR forces. They were later exchanged for Lieutenant-General Yakovlev. Moldovan policemen loyal to Chișinău from the Dubăsari raion (district), instead of returning to work in
2436-553: The MASSR survived a famine. In December 1927, Time reported a number of anti-Soviet uprisings among peasants and factory workers in Tiraspol and other cities ( Mogilev-Podolskiy , Kamyanets-Podolskiy ) of southern Ukrainian SSR. Troops from Moscow were sent to the region and suppressed the unrest, resulting in ca. 4000 deaths. The insurrections were at the time completely denied by the official Kremlin press. Collectivization in
2520-479: The MASSR was integrated into the newly created Moldavian SSR , in 1940. The Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was established inside the Ukrainian SSR, on 12 October 1924. The area was quickly industrialized, and because of the lack of a qualified workforce, a significant migration from other Soviet republics occurred, predominantly Ukrainians and Russians. In particular, in 1928, of 14,300 industrial workers only about 600 were Moldavians. In 1925,
2604-400: The MASSR was even more fast-paced than in Ukraine and was reported to be complete by summer 1931. This was accompanied by the deportation of about 2,000 families to Kazakhstan . In 1932 and 1933 another famine, known as Holodomor in Ukraine, occurred, with tens of thousands of peasants dying of starvation. During the famine, thousands of inhabitants tried to escape over the Dniester, despite
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2688-654: The Moldavian ASSR, accused of being enemies of the people , bourgeois nationalist or Trotskyist , were removed from their positions and repressed, with a large number of them executed. In 1938 the Cyrillic script was again declared official for the Moldavian and the Latin script was banned. However, the literary language did not fully return to Madan's creation and remained closer to Romanian. After 1956, Madan's influences were entirely dropped from school books. This policy remained in effect until 1989. Use of Cyrillic
2772-478: The Moldavian SSR, in order to retain Russian and Gagauz as official languages. As the nationalist-dominated Moldavian Supreme Soviet outlawed these initiatives, the Gagauz Republic and Transnistria declared themselves as separate from Moldova and announced their application to be reattached to the Soviet Union as independent federal republics. The language laws presented a particularly volatile issue as
2856-597: The Moldovan parliament adopted the Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Moldova. The declaration referred to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact as "null and void" and viewed Moldova's Independence as an act of elimination of "the political and legal consequences of the above", declaring that the establishment of the Moldavian SSR on the territories of Bessarabia , Northern Bukovina , Hertsa region and
2940-519: The Moldovans. The officers and their families were forced to leave the village. More policemen were ferried the following days from the western bank of the Dniester. They organized a defense line around the three villages, while PMR forces retained control of Dubăsari. In the following weeks both PMR and Moldovan forces amassed large numbers in the area and fought a trench war , with intermittent ceasefires. A similar development occurred on 13 March in
3024-535: The PMR forces to arm themselves by using the weapons stocks of the 14th Army. At that time, General Yakovlev has been both Commander of the 14th Army and "Head of the National Defence and Security Department" of the PMR. The government of the Russian Federation interceded with the Moldovan government to obtain the release of General Yakovlev in exchange for 26 policemen detained by PMR forces at
3108-679: The PMR. By 1992, Moldova had troops under the Ministry of the Interior. On 17 March 1992, they started recruiting troops for the newly created Ministry of Defence. By July 1992, total Moldovan troop strength has been estimated at 25,000–35,000, including called-up police officers, conscripts, reservists and volunteers, especially from the Moldavian localities near the conflict zone. In addition to Soviet weaponry inherited upon independence, Moldova also obtained arms from Romania. Romania also sent military advisors and volunteers to aid Moldova during
3192-581: The Republic of Moldova did not have its own army , and the first attempts to create one took place in early 1992 in response to the escalating conflict. The newly independent 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". When, on 29 August 1991, Transnistria's independence leader Igor Smirnov and three other deputies arrived in Kyiv ,
3276-619: The Transnistria War, UNA-UNSO members fought alongside Transnistrian separatists against Moldovan government forces in defense of a large ethnic-Ukrainian minority in Transnistria. The incongruous motive of assisting a mostly pro-Russian region was for the " struggle of Slavs over Moldovan-Romanian aggression." Following the war, 50 UNSO members were awarded the PMR "Defender of Transnistria" medal. Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic The Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic , shortened to Moldavian ASSR ,
3360-508: The Transnistrian Republican Guard and Cossack volunteers rushed to confront the Moldovan forces. Russia Vice-president Rutskoy, in a speech delivered on the main channel of the Russian television, called for all Russian forces in Tiraspol to storm Bender. In the course of the following days, parts of the city of Bender, including the center, were retaken by PMR forces. On 22 June 1992, acting on news that troops from
3444-426: The USSR in favor of uniting with Romania, they encountered growing opposition from among the primarily Russian-speaking ethnic minorities living in the republic. This opposition to the new trends and potential future policies was manifested in a more visible way in Transnistria, where, unlike the rest of the MSSR, ethnic Moldovans (39.9%) were outnumbered by the combined figure of Russians and Ukrainians (53.8%) as per
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3528-422: The bombs went astray and fell on a civilian residence, killing a number of people inside. Sources from the 14th Army claimed a second MiG-29 attack on an oil refinery at Tiraspol the following day, in which one aircraft was allegedly shot down by a S-125 Neva/Pechora missile, but this sortie was denied by Moldovan authorities. A ceasefire agreement was signed on 21 July. This official document whose broad lines
3612-557: The capital of Ukraine, to meet Ukrainian leader Leonid Kravchuk , Smirnov and Andrei Cheban were arrested by Moldova's police and immediately transported to a prison in Moldova. In protest, the women's strike committee headed by Galina Andreeva blocked the Moscow–Chișinău railway line at a waypoint between Bender (Tighina) and Tiraspol , until the men were freed. In late 1991, policemen in Tiraspol and Rîbnița swore allegiance to
3696-503: The city of Bender in an attempt to reestablish the authority of Moldova there. It has been reported that this action was a response to the stand-off at the police station in Bender on 19 June 1992. On the afternoon of that day, the Moldovan police in Bender arrested the 14th Army's Major Yermakov on suspicion of planned subversion. After his arrest, PMR guards opened fire on the police station. The Moldovan government ordered its troops to enter
3780-414: The city the following morning. Urban warfare ensued between the two sides in the densely populated city, causing civilian casualties. The Moldovan radio said three Soviet Russian T-64 tanks from the 14th Army, some bearing Russian flags, were destroyed when closing in on central Bender, two of them by T-12 antitank guns , and a third by a rocket propelled grenade that set its engine on fire. A fourth tank
3864-480: The city's inhabitants, who had blocked the bridge over the Dniester , at Lunga . In an attempt to break through the roadblock, Moldovan forces then opened fire. In the course of the confrontation, three Dubăsari locals, Oleg Geletiuk, Vladimir Gotkas and Valerie Mitsuls, were killed by the Moldovan forces and sixteen people wounded. A second Moldovan attempt to cross the Lunga bridge took place on 13 December 1991. As
3948-564: The city, or helping wounded PMR guardsmen. Other local eyewitnesses testified that in the same day, unarmed men that gathered in the Bender downtown square in request of the PMR Executive Committee, were fired at from machine guns. HRC observers were told by doctors in Bender that as a result of heavy fire from Moldovan positions between 19 and 20 June, they were unable to attend the wounded. From 21 to 22 June, both sides engaged in intense urban street fighting, which employed
4032-474: The conflict. At the same time, the Russian 14th Guards Army in Moldovan territory numbered about 14,000 professional soldiers. The PMR authorities had 9,000 militiamen trained and armed by officers of the 14th Army. The volunteers came from the Russian Federation: a number of Don, Kuban, Orenburg, Sibir and local Transnistrian Black Sea Cossacks joined in to fight alongside the separatists. Due to
4116-693: The context of the loss of larger Bessarabia to Romania in April 1918. In such a manner, the Bolshevik leadership tried to radicalize pro-Soviet feelings in Bessarabia with the goal of setting up favorable conditions for the creation of a geopolitical "place d'armes" ( bridgehead ), in an attempt to execute a breakthrough in the direction of the Balkans by projecting influence upon Romanian Bessarabia, which would eventually be occupied and annexed in 1940 after
4200-597: The creation of the Moldavian SSR , today's Transnistria was part of the Ukrainian SSR as an autonomous republic called the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic , with Tiraspol as its capital (1924–1940). It represents slightly more than one tenth of Moldova's territory. Under Soviet rule, the Moldavian SSR became subject of policy of Russification , including isolation from the Romanian cultural sphere and
4284-522: The creation of the Moldavian ASSR, the Soviet Union also hoped to bolster its claim to Bessarabia. On March 7, 1924, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Ukraine recognized a political prudence in creation of autonomy, yet to the final untangling of the question it was decided to return after a careful ascertainment of situation in the region. The debated question
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#17327902540924368-579: The creation of the autonomy inappropriate. However, in Moscow this position was ignored. The All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee (VUTsVK) yet went further and about a week later on 24 April 1924 it created the VUTsVK Central Commission on affairs of national minorities. Accepted on 29 July, the decision of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) contained categorical indication for
4452-438: The fact that on the left bank of Dniester compactly live from 500,000 to 800,000 Moldavians and that creation of Moldavian republic would play a role of powerful political and propaganda factor in solving the so-called Bessarabian question . Establishing the republic became a matter of dispute. Despite the objections of Soviet commissar of foreign relations Chicherin who argued that the new establishment would only strengthen
4536-760: The founding of the PMR, served in the PMR Supreme Soviet and accepted the position as the first chairman of the PMR Department of Defense on 3 December 1991, causing the Commander-in-Chief of the CIS armed forces, Yevgeny Shaposhnikov , to promptly relieve him of his rank and service in the Russian military. Yakovlev's successor, General Yuriy Netkachev has assumed a more neutral stance in the conflict. However, his attempts at mediation between Chișinău and Tiraspol were largely unsuccessful and
4620-402: The future Republic like at a lighthouse, which spreads the light of freedom and human dignity," as well as in a book published in Moscow, which claimed that "once the economic and cultural growth of Moldavia has begun, aristocracy-led Romania will not be able to maintain its hold on Bessarabia." While the creation of ethnic-based autonomous republics was a general Soviet policy at that time, with
4704-581: The hooligans [separatists] in Tiraspol and the fascists in Chișinău – either you stop killing each other, or else I'll shoot the whole lot of you with my tanks". Volunteers from Russia and Ukraine, including Don and Kuban Cossacks , fought on Transnistria's side. There is no general consensus on the number of volunteers or the military role they played in the conflict. Estimates range from as low as 200 to as high as 3,000. Russian volunteers included: Dmitry Rogozin , Eduard Limonov and Igor Girkin . During
4788-520: The imposition of the Cyrillic alphabet for the Romanian language. During the last years of the 1980s, the political landscape of the Soviet Union was changing due to Mikhail Gorbachev 's policies of perestroika and glasnost , which allowed political pluralism at the regional (republican) level. In the Moldavian SSR, as in many other parts of the Soviet Union, national movements became the leading political force. As these movements exhibited increasingly nationalist sentiments and expressed intent to leave
4872-577: The irregular makeup of the forces, troop strength of the PMR is in dispute, but it is believed that during March it numbered around 12,000. Forces of the 14th Army (which had owed allegiance to the USSR , CIS and the Russian Federation in turn) stationed in Transnistria, had fought with and on behalf of the PMR forces. A significant portion of the personnel of the Russian 14th Army were local conscripts and officers that had been given local residence. PMR units were able to arm themselves with weapons taken from
4956-628: The national anthem to Deșteaptă-te, române! , the national anthem of Romania since 1990. Later in 1990, the words Soviet and Socialist were dropped and the name of the country was changed to " Republic of Moldova ". These events, including the end of the Ceaușescu regime in neighboring Romania in December 1989 and the partial opening of the border between Romania and Moldova on 6 May 1990, led many in Transnistria and Moldova to believe that
5040-414: The occupied precinct in Dubăsari, now a milice precinct, gathered in Cocieri. On 2 March 1992, locals from Cocieri, after hearing about the situation in Dubăsari, broke into the small local arms depot to arm themselves against the PMR side. Three locals (Alexandru Luchianov from Cocieri, Alexandru Gazea from Molovata and Mihai Nour from Roghi ) were killed, but the military unit from Cocieri was defeated by
5124-564: The position of Romanians towards Bessarabia and able to activate "expansionist claims of Romanian chauvinism", Kremlin launched a campaign to create the autonomy attracting to it Bessarabian refugees and Romanian political emigrants who lived in Moscow and the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic . On the other hand, Kotovski held that a new republic would spread Communist ideas into neighboring Bessarabia, with
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#17327902540925208-416: The shore. The only connection to the western bank from the three villages is either a ferry, or two bridges in Dubăsari. On 1 March 1992 Igor Shipcenko, the PMR militia chief of Dubăsari, was killed by a teenager and Moldovan police were accused of the killing. Although minor, this incident was a sufficient spark for the already very tense situation to blow up and cause the conflict to escalate. In response,
5292-496: The signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact . The active propagandist of idea in creation of Moldavian autonomy on territory of Ukrainian Transnistria was Russian revolutionary and a native of Bessarabia Grigory Kotovsky (a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee ). In February 1924, a memorandum directed to the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) and
5376-489: The situation escalated to an open military engagement by June 1992. On 23 June, in the wake of a coordinated offensive by Moldovan forces, Major General Alexander Lebed arrived at the 14th Army headquarters with standing orders to inspect the army, prevent the theft of armaments from its depots, stop the ongoing conflict with any means available and ensure the unimpeded evacuation of armaments and Army personnel from Moldovan and through Ukrainian territory. After briefly assessing
5460-508: The situation, he assumed command of the army, relieving Netkachev, and ordered his troops to enter the conflict directly. On 3 July at 03:00, a massive artillery strike from 14th Army formations stationed on left bank of the Dniester obliterated the Moldovan force concentrated in Gerbovetskii forest, near Bender, effectively ending the military phase of the conflict. Romanian authors Anatolie Muntean and Nicolae Ciubotaru attribute to Lebed
5544-401: The spring and early summer of 1992 until a ceasefire was declared on 21 July 1992, which has held. The conflict is sometimes known as the Moldo-Russian war ( Romanian : Războiul moldo-rus ) in Moldova and Romania. Before the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina and the creation of the Moldavian SSR in 1940, the Bessarabian part of Moldova , i.e. the part situated to
5628-470: The start of the fighting in Dubăsari. On 5 April 1992, Vice President Rutskoy of Russia, in a speech delivered to 5,000 people in Tiraspol , encouraged the Transnistrian people to obtain their independence. The first fatalities in the emerging conflict took place on 2 November 1990, two months after the PMR's 2 September 1990 declaration of independence. Moldovan forces entered Dubăsari in order to separate Transnistria into two halves, but were stopped by
5712-441: The status of an autonomous republic and included several other territories, including some with little Moldavian population, such as the Balta district (where the capital was located), which had only 2.52% Moldavians. The official capital was proclaimed the "temporarily occupied city of Kishinev (Chișinău)". Meanwhile, a provisional capital was established in Balta and moved to Tiraspol in 1929, where it remained until part of
5796-424: The stores of the former 14th Army. The Russian troops chose not to oppose the PMR units who had come to help themselves from the Army's stores; on the contrary, in many cases they helped the PMR troops equip themselves by handing over weapons and by opening up the ammunition stores to them. In December 1991, the Moldovan authorities arrested Lieutenant-General Yakovlev in Ukrainian territory, accusing him of helping
5880-442: The threat of being shot. The most notable such incident happened near the village Olănești on February 23, 1932, when 40 persons were shot. This was reported in European newspapers by survivors. The Soviet side reported this as an escape of " kulak elements subverted by Romanian propaganda." On 30 October 1930, from an improvised studio in Tiraspol, started broadcasting in Romanian a Soviet radio of 4 kW whose main purpose
5964-843: The use of tanks, artillery and grenade launchers. Officers from both sides admitted that these actions led to an increase in civilian casualties. During this time period, ambulance cars were fired upon, with both sides accusing each other of the attacks. PMR sources stated that in Bender, one doctor was killed and several wounded, while six ambulance personnel were wounded in Căușeni . In the Moldovan city of Chișinău , HRC Memorial observers interviewed 12 Transnistrian prisoners of war. The prisoners stated that while being initially detained and interrogated in Căușeni, they were severely beaten with clubs and gun buttstocks by Moldovan police, as well as being threatened with firing squads. There were also reports of captured Moldovan policemen, soldiers and volunteers being beaten and tortured by PMR forces. Although
6048-567: The village of Parcani (Parkany) and shelled the ROG station there which meant engaging not just PMR but also Russian forces. In 1991, PMR paramilitary forces conducted forays into supply depots of the 14th Guards Army , appropriating an unknown but large amount of equipment. With the commanding officer of the 14th Guards Army, General G. I. Yakovlev, openly supporting the newly created PMR, these forays usually met no resistance from army guards, who never faced punishment. Yakovlev eventually participated in
6132-501: The villages of Coșnița, Pîrîta, Pohrebea and Doroțcaia. A second "bridge-head" was formed on the eastern bank, now south of Dubăsari. In April, Russian Vice President Alexander Rutskoy visited Transnistria and expressed the full support of Transnistrian separatists by Soviet Russia. A ceasefire was in negotiation during June 1992 in the Bender (Tighina) area . However, a full-scale battle erupted after regular Moldovan forces entered
6216-432: The west of the river Dniester (Nistru), was part of Romania (1918–1940). The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany , which led to the events of 1940, was later denounced by present-day Moldova, which declared it "null and void" in its Declaration of Independence in 1991. However, after the breakup of the Soviet Union, the territorial changes resulting from it have remained in place. Before
6300-507: Was 7,516 km (2,902 sq mi) and included 11 raions on the left bank of Dniester. According to the 1926 Soviet census, the Republic had a population of 572,339, of which: Despite this extensive territory allotted to the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, about 85,000 Moldavians remained in Ukraine outside the territory of MASSR. The tenet that the Moldavian
6384-473: Was about a form in meeting the interests of Moldavian population (autonomous republic, autonomous oblast, district, or raion). Whereas in process of carried work it became clear that statistical data on the number of Moldavians presented by the Kotovsky's commission is inflated compared to official, on 18 April 1924 the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Ukraine approved to consider
6468-571: Was admitted as a member of the United Nations , i.e. received full international recognition of its 27 August 1991 declaration of independence. After Transnistrian paramilitary advances Moldova declared the state of emergency on 29 March, the armed conflict culminated in May and June in three areas along the Dniester river , and died down on 19–21 June after the Battle of Bender (also Tighina) where
6552-467: Was an autonomous republic of the Ukrainian SSR between 12 October 1924 and 2 August 1940, encompassing the modern territory of Transnistria (today de jure in Moldova , but de facto functioning as an independent state; see Transnistria conflict ) as well as much of the present-day Podilsk Raion of Ukraine . It was an artificial political creation inspired by the Bolshevik nationalities policy in
6636-566: Was an armed conflict that broke out on 2 November 1990 in Dubăsari ( Russian : Дубосса́ры , romanized : Dubossary ) between pro- Transnistria (Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, PMR) forces, including the Transnistrian Republican Guard, militia and neo- Cossack units, which were supported by elements of the Russian 14th Army , and pro- Moldovan forces, including Moldovan troops and police. Fighting intensified on 1 March 1992 and, alternating with ad hoc ceasefires, lasted throughout
6720-459: Was created from a territory previously administered as parts of the Odessa and Podolia Governorates of Ukraine. It accounted for two percent of the land and population of the Ukrainian SSR at the time. Initially (March 1924) organized as an oblast (Moldavian Autonomous Oblast), it had only four districts, all of them having a Moldavian majority: On 12 October 1924, the oblast was elevated to
6804-419: Was disabled when its tracks were struck by a rocket propelled grenade. Russian Army spokesmen said the tanks had been seized from depots by separatists. Russian sources reported "dozens of dead" in the streets. The news of the havoc in Bender reached Tiraspol, only 11 km (7 miles) away, as Moldovan troops were approaching the crucial bridge over the Dniester. At this point, with the support of ROG's tanks,
6888-509: Was established by the Russian side, was signed by the presidents of Russia ( Boris Yeltsin ) and Moldova ( Mircea Snegur ). The agreement provided for peacekeeping forces charged with ensuring observance of the ceasefire and security arrangements, composed of five Russian battalions, three Moldovan battalions and two PMR battalions under the orders of a joint military command structure, the Joint Control Commission (JCC). It
6972-440: Was the anti- Romanian propaganda to Bessarabia between Prut and Dniester . In the context in which a new radio mast, M. Gorky, built in 1936 in Tiraspol, allowed a greater coverage of the territory of Moldavia, the Romanian state broadcaster started in 1937 to build Radio Basarabia , to counter Soviet propaganda . Moldavian ASSR had a mixed population, in which less than one third was Moldavian. At its creation, its area
7056-504: Was then dispatched to clear a roadblock placed by the city residents on the bridge over the river Dniester that effectively cut the city off from the central government. After being prevented from clearing the roadblock, policemen opened fire, with three residents of Dubăsari being killed and 13 wounded, resulting in the first casualties of the conflict. In the aftermath of the failure of the Soviet coup attempt of 1991 , on 27 August 1991,
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