159-677: 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 ) 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
318-735: 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
477-597: A multi-party system . The majority in the supreme council belongs to the Renewal movement that defeated the Republic party affiliated with Igor Smirnov in 2005 and performed even better in the 2010 and 2015 elections. Elections in Transnistria are not recognised by international bodies such as the European Union , as well as numerous individual countries, who called them a source of increased tensions. There
636-420: A different political entity and missed the years of creating a pan-Romanian national political consciousness. They identified as Moldovans speaking the language "Moldovan". This caused reactions from pan-Romanian nationalists. The concept of the distinction of Moldovan from Romanian was explicitly stated only in the early 20th century. It accompanied the raising of national awareness among Moldovans, with
795-668: A distinction between Moldovan and Romanian , with one village declaring its language to be Romanian and another declaring it to be Moldovan , though Ukrainian officials have announced an intention to remove the legal status of Moldovan . On 16 November 2023, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Ukrainian government stated that it has initiated steps to abolish the Moldovan language and to replace it with Romanian. On 13 January 2024, Ukrainian newspaper Dumska reported that
954-540: 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,
1113-646: A group of Romanian linguists adopted a resolution stating that promotion of the notion of a distinct Moldovan language is an anti-scientific campaign. In 2003, the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova adopted a law defining Moldovan and Romanian as designations for the same language ( glottonyms ). In the 2004 census , 16.5% (558,508) of the 3,383,332 people living in Moldova declared Romanian as their native language, whereas 60% declared Moldovan. Most of
1272-539: A high school. The matter of whether or not Moldovan is a separate language continues to be contested politically within and beyond the Republic of Moldova. The 1989 Language Law of the Moldavian SSR , which is still in effect in Moldova, according to the Constitution, asserts a "linguistic Moldo-Romanian identity". Article 13 of the Moldovan Constitution used to name it "the national language of
1431-464: A historic holdover. Independent studies found a Moldovan linguistic identity asserted in particular by the rural population and post-Soviet political class. In a survey conducted in four villages near the border with Romania, when asked about their native language the interviewees identified the following: Moldovan 53%, Romanian 44%, and Russian 3%. In November 2007, when reporting on EU Council deliberations regarding an agreement between
1590-480: A legal part of the Republic of Moldova. Only the partially recognised or unrecognised states of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have recognised Transnistria as a sovereign entity after it declared independence from Moldova in 1990 with Tiraspol as its declared capital. Between 1929 and 1940, Tiraspol functioned as the capital of the Moldavian ASSR , an autonomous republic that existed from 1924 to 1940 within
1749-430: A limited scale that broke out between Transnistrian separatists and Moldova as early as November 1990 at Dubăsari . Volunteers, including Cossacks , came from Russia to help the separatist side. In mid-April 1992, under the agreements on the split of the military equipment of the former Soviet Union negotiated between the former 15 republics in the previous months, Moldova created its own Defence Ministry. According to
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#17327830739271908-630: A meeting between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania Bogdan Aurescu and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba , the former asked Ukraine to recognize the nonexistence of the Moldovan language to improve the situation of the Romanians in Ukraine . Kuleba responded to this saying that they were trying to do the paperwork for this as soon as possible. On 30 November 2022, during another meeting between Aurescu and Kuleba, Aurescu reiterated this request. This happened again during
2067-816: A meeting in Bucharest. Among the things that were discussed was the issue of the Romanian minority in Ukraine. Ciolacu said that Romania sought for the Romanians in Ukraine to have exactly the same rights as the Ukrainians in Romania and also for the removal of the Moldovan language from Ukrainian legislation. Starting from 1 September 2023, the high school in the village of Borysivka ( Borisăuca ) in Odesa Oblast , where Ukrainian Romanians study, replaced
2226-426: A phone call between the two ministers on 12 April 2023, after Moldova had legally changed its official language to Romanian. On 2 March 2023, the Moldovan parliament voted to replace the phrases "Moldovan language", "state language" and "official language" in Moldovan legislation with the phrase "Romanian language". The change was presented not as a constitutional change, but only a technical one, as it would implement
2385-475: 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
2544-517: 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
2703-483: 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
2862-566: A total of 147 localities (including here those unincorporated). Six communes on the left bank ( Cocieri , Molovata Nouă , Corjova , Pîrîta , Coșnița , and Doroțcaia ) remained under the control of the Moldovan government after the Transnistria War of 1992, as part of the Dubăsari District . They are situated north and south of the city of Dubăsari, which itself is under PMR control. The village of Roghi of Molovata Nouă Commune
3021-564: 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
3180-481: 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
3339-469: Is Pridnestrovie ( Russian : Приднестровье , pronounced [prʲɪ.dʲnʲɪ.ˈstro.v⁽ʲ⁾je] ; Romanian : Nistrenia , Moldovan Cyrillic : Нистрения , pronounced [nis.tre.ni.ja] ; Ukrainian : Придністров'я , Prydnistrovia , pronounced [prɪ.ɟɲi.ˈstrɔu̯.jɐ] ), meaning "[land] by the Dniester". The Supreme Council passed a law on 4 September 2024 which banned
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#17327830739273498-539: Is the M4 road from Tiraspol to Rîbnița through Dubăsari . The highway is controlled in its entirety by the PMR. North and south of Dubăsari it passes through land corridors controlled by Moldova in the villages of Doroțcaia, Cocieri, Roghi, and Vasilievca , the latter being located entirely to the east of the road. The road is the de facto border between Moldova and Transnistria in the area. Conflict erupted on several occasions when
3657-766: Is a post-Soviet " frozen conflict " zone. These three partially recognised or unrecognised states maintain friendly relations with each other and form the Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations . In March 2022, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution that defines the territory as under military occupation by Russia . The region can also be referred to in English as Dniesteria , Trans-Dniester , Transdniester or Transdniestria . These names are adaptations of
3816-502: Is also controlled by the PMR (Moldova controls the other nine of the 10 villages of the six communes). On the west bank, in Bessarabia, the city of Bender (Tighina) and four communes (containing six villages) to its east, south-east, and south, on the opposite bank of the river Dniester from the city of Tiraspol ( Proteagailovca , Gîsca , Chițcani , and Cremenciug ) are controlled by the PMR. The localities controlled by Moldova on
3975-514: Is based on, for 411 km; 255 mi) to the west, and Ukraine (for 405 km; 252 mi) to the east. It is a narrow valley stretching north–south along the bank of the Dniester river , which forms a natural boundary along most of the de facto border with Moldova. The territory controlled by the PMR is mostly, but not completely, conterminous with the left (eastern) bank of Dniester. It includes ten cities and towns, and 69 communes, with
4134-470: Is disagreement over whether elections in Transnistria are free and fair. The political regime has been described as one of "super- presidentialism " before the 2011 constitutional reform. During the 2006 presidential election, the registration of opposition candidate Andrey Safonov was delayed until a few days before the vote, so that he had little time to conduct an election campaign. Some sources consider election results suspect. In 2001, in one region it
4293-470: 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),
4452-495: Is obliged to concentrate almost exclusively on lexical rather than grammatical differences. Whatever language distinctions may once have existed, these have been decreasing rather than increasing. King wrote in 2000 that "in the main, Moldovan in its standard form was more Romanian by the 1980s than at any point in its history". In 2002, the Moldovan Minister of Justice Ion Morei said that Romanian and Moldovan were
4611-574: 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 the west of the river Dniester (Nistru), was part of Romania (1918–1940). The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between
4770-416: Is unvarying all year round, although with a slight increase in the summer months. Transnistria is subdivided into five districts ( raions ) and one municipality, the city of Tiraspol (which is entirely surrounded by but administratively distinct from Slobozia District), listed below from north to south (Russian names and transliterations are appended in parentheses). In addition, another municipality,
4929-461: 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
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5088-534: The 2004 census . In schools in Moldova, the term "Romanian language" has been used since independence. The variety of Romanian spoken in Moldova is the Moldavian subdialect , which is spread approximately within the territory of the former Principality of Moldavia (now split between Romania , Moldova and Ukraine ). Moldavian is considered one of the five major spoken varieties of Romanian. However, all five are written identically, and Moldova and Romania share
5247-620: The Administrative-Territorial Units of the Left Bank of the Dniester within the Republic of Moldova. According to the 2004 census, the population of Transnistria comprised 555,347 people, while at the 2015 census the population decreased to 475,373. In 2004, 90% of the population of Transnistria were citizens of Transnistria. Transnistrians may have dual, triple or even quadruple citizenship of internationally recognised countries, including: Fifteen villages from
5406-557: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation , claimed that "the Romanian language should be renamed to Moldovan, and not the opposite". Romanian foreign minister Aurescu replied to this by saying, "This so-called Moldovan language does not exist, it is an artificial construct, which was created by the Soviet Union and has later been used by Russia for disinformation purposes". To this, Zakharova replied back by saying, "Sr. Bogdan Aurescu never existed either, but in
5565-465: 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,
5724-571: 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 the imposition of the Cyrillic alphabet for the Romanian language. During the last years of the 1980s,
5883-544: The Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and locally as Pridnestrovie , is a breakaway state internationally recognized as part of Moldova . It controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester river and the Moldova–Ukraine border , as well as some land on the other side of the river's bank. Its capital and largest city is Tiraspol . Transnistria is officially designated by
6042-650: 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
6201-531: The Romanian Academy in Romania declared that all the Moldovan words are also Romanian words, although some of its contents are disputed as being Russian loanwords . In Moldova, the head of the Academy of Sciences ' Institute of Linguistics, Ion Bărbuță, described the dictionary as "an absurdity, serving political purposes". Stati, however, accused both of promoting "Romanian colonialism". At that point,
6360-531: 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
6519-563: 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 the creation of the Moldavian SSR , today's Transnistria was part of the Ukrainian SSR as an autonomous republic called
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6678-617: The Soviet Union took parts of the Moldavian ASSR , which was dissolved, and of the Kingdom of Romania 's Bessarabia to form the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1940. The present history of the region dates to 1990, during the dissolution of the Soviet Union , when the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was established in hopes that it would remain within the Soviet Union should Moldova seek unification with Romania or independence,
6837-512: The Transnistria Governorate , with an area of 39,733 km (15,341 sq mi) and a population of 2.3 million inhabitants, was divided into 13 counties: Ananiev, Balta, Berzovca, Dubasari, Golta, Jugastru, Movilau, Oceacov, Odessa, Ovidiopol , Rîbnița, Tiraspol, and Tulcin. This expanded Transnistria was home to nearly 200,000 Romanian-speaking residents. The Romanian administration of Transnistria attempted to stabilise
6996-522: 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
7155-424: The 11 communes of Dubăsari District, including Cocieri and Doroțcaia that geographically are located on the east bank of the Dniester (in Transnistria region), have been under the control of the central government of Moldova after the involvement of local inhabitants on the side of Moldovan forces during the War of Transnistria. These villages, along with Varnița and Copanca , near Bender and Tiraspol, are claimed by
7314-505: 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
7473-652: 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
7632-428: 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
7791-440: The 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev 's policies of perestroika and glasnost in the Soviet Union allowed political liberalisation at a regional level. This led to the creation of various informal movements all over the country, and to a rise of nationalism within most Soviet republics. In the Moldavian SSR in particular, there was a significant resurgence of pro-Romanian nationalism among Moldovans. The most prominent of these movements
7950-786: The 1991 Declaration of Independence of Moldova used the name Romanian . In 2003, the Moldovan parliament adopted a law defining Moldovan and Romanian as glottonyms for the same language. In 2013, the Constitutional Court of Moldova interpreted that Article 13 of the constitution is superseded by the Declaration of Independence, thus giving official status to the name Romanian . The breakaway region of Transnistria continues to recognize "Moldavian" as one of its official languages, alongside Russian and Ukrainian . Ukraine also continued until recently to make
8109-537: The 2013 decision of the Constitutional Court of Moldova. This change was supported by the ruling Party of Action and Solidarity and was strongly opposed by the Bloc of Communists and Socialists . The Academy of Sciences of Moldova also supported this decision. The bill was approved on its second and final reading on 16 March. This attracted criticism from Russia. Maria Zakharova , the spokeswoman for
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#17327830739278268-473: The Chernivtsi oblast indicated that a significant majority of the self-identified Moldovans thought that there was no difference between the Moldovan language and the Romanian language in that part of Ukraine. According to Alla Skvortsova, an ethnic Russian researcher from the Republic of Moldova, "Our survey found that while 94.4 percent of the Romanians living in Moldova consider Moldovan and Romanian to be
8427-494: The City of Bender, situated on the western bank of the Dniester, in Bessarabia, and geographically outside Transnistria, is not part of the territorial unit of Transnistria as defined by the Moldovan central authorities, but it is controlled by the PMR authorities, which consider it part of PMR's administrative organisation: Each of the districts is further divided into cities and communes. All UN member states consider Transnistria
8586-500: 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
8745-437: The Declaration of Independence takes precedence over the Constitution and that the state language should be called Romanian. By March 2017, the presidential website under Igor Dodon had changed the Romanian language option to Moldovan , which was described to be "in accordance with the constitution" by said president. The change was reverted on 24 December 2020, the day Maia Sandu assumed office. In June 2021, during
8904-408: The Dniester or Moldova (proper, without the Transnistrian separatist region) identified Moldovan or Romanian as their native language, of which 1,544,726 (55.1%) declared Moldovan and 639.339 (22.8%) declared it Romanian. According to the 2014 census, 2,720,377 answered to the question on "language usually used for communication". 2,138,964 people or 78.63% of the inhabitants of Moldova (proper, without
9063-478: The Dniester"). According to the Transnistrian authorities, the name of the state is the "Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic" (PMR) ( Russian : Приднестро́вская Молда́вская Респу́блика, ПМР , Pridnestróvskaya Moldávskaya Respúblika ; Romanian : Republica Moldovenească Nistreană, RMN , Moldovan Cyrillic : Република Молдовеняскэ Нистрянэ, РМН ; Ukrainian : Придністро́вська Молда́вська Респу́бліка, ПМР , Prydnistróvska Moldávska Respúblika ). The short form
9222-757: The Dubăsari-Cocieri area, when a confrontation between Moldovan and Transnistrian forces occurred, though without any casualties. June 2010 surveys indicated that 13% of Transnistria's population desired the area's reintegration into Moldova in the condition of territorial autonomy, while 46% wanted Transnistria to be part of the Russian Federation. Transnistria is a non-UN member state recognised as independent only by Abkhazia and South Ossetia, both being non-UN member states with limited recognition. Nina Shtanski served as Transnistria's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2015; Vitaly Ignatiev [ ru ] succeeded her as minister. In 2024 Vitaly Ignatiev
9381-662: The European Community and Moldova, the Romanian reporter Jean Marin Marinescu included a recommendation to avoid formal references to the "Moldovan language". The Romanian press speculated that the EU banned the usage of the phrase "Moldovan language". However, the European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner , denied these allegations. She said that
9540-470: The European Union, and thus less likely to enter negotiations for economic relief from Transnistria. Transnistria's vaguely worded request for "protection" from Russia has led to fears that, instead of offering economic aid, Russia will attempt to "annex" the region, as they did with occupied Ukraine in 2022 . Transnistria is landlocked and borders Bessarabia (the region the Republic of Moldova
9699-593: The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine has stopped any additional printing of these textbooks. And also develops a mechanism for replacing previously printed copies with textbooks in the Romanian language.' On 13 January 2024, Ukrainian newspaper Dumska reported that the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science had announced all 16 schools in Odesa Oblast teaching "Moldovan" had dropped
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#17327830739279858-526: The Moldavian SSR in the following months on charges of collaboration with the Romanian occupiers. A later campaign directed against rich peasant families deported them to the Kazakh SSR and Siberia . Over the course of two days, 6–7 July 1949, a plan named "Operation South" saw the deportation of over 11,342 families by order of the Moldavian Minister of State Security, Iosif Mordovets. In
10017-477: 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
10176-447: The Moldovan language and to replace it with Romanian. The Ukrainian Ministry of Education stated: ‘The Government of Ukraine adopted a decision regarding the use of the term "Romanian language" instead of the term "Moldovan language" in Ukraine. Currently, work is underway to bring the current legislation of Ukraine in line with this decision, which includes many internal regulatory legal acts. Separately, we note that all further acts of
10335-491: The Moldovan language is referred to in the 1998 Cooperation Agreement between the EU and Moldova , and hence it is considered a part of the acquis , binding on all member states . The language was generally written in a Romanian Cyrillic alphabet (based on the Old Church Slavonic alphabet) before the 19th century. Both Cyrillic and, rarely, Latin, were used until after World War I ; after Bessarabia
10494-483: The Moldovan language refers to the historical evolution of the glottonym Moldavian / Moldovan in Moldova and beyond. It is closely tied to the region's political status, as during long periods of rule by Russia and the Soviet Union , officials emphasized the language's name as part of separating the Moldovans from those people who began to identify as Romanian in a different nation-building process. Cyrillic script
10653-401: The Moldovan language. He responded by saying that he did not see this as a global problem and that it was not an urgent issue for a country at war but that the Ukrainian government would meet in a week or two and that a solution to the issue "I'm sure everyone will be happy" with would be found. On 18 October, Ukrainian authorities promised to "resolve the issue of artificial separation between
10812-481: 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
10971-496: The Moldovan police refused to intervene or restore order. In the interest of preserving a unified Moldavian SSR within the USSR and preventing the situation escalating further, then Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, while citing the restriction of civil rights of ethnic minorities by Moldova as the cause of the dispute, declared the Transnistria proclamation to be devoid of a legal basis and annulled it by presidential decree on 22 December 1990. Nevertheless, no significant action
11130-530: The Moldovans had for centuries been interchangeably identified by both terms, but during the time of the Soviet Union , Moldovan , or as it was called at the time, Moldavian , was the only term officially recognized. Its resolution declared Moldavian a Romance language distinct from Romanian. While a majority of Moldovans with higher education, as well as a majority of inhabitants of the capital city of Chișinău , call their language Romanian , most rural residents indicated Moldovan as their native language in
11289-461: 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
11448-466: 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
11607-569: The PMR prevented the villagers from reaching their farmland east of the road. Transnistrians are able to travel (normally without difficulty) in and out of the territory under PMR control to neighbouring Moldovan-controlled territory and to Ukraine. International air travellers rely on the airport in the Moldovan capital Chișinău , or the airport in Odesa , in Ukraine. The climate is humid continental with subtropical characteristics. Transnistria has warm summers and cool to cold winters. Precipitation
11766-620: 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
11925-527: The PMR. One city (Bender) and six villages located on the west bank (in Bessarabia region) are controlled by the PMR, but are considered by Moldova as a separate municipality (Bender and village of Proteagailovca ) or part of the Căușeni District (five villages in three communes). Tense situations have periodically surfaced due to these territorial disputes, such as in 2005, when Transnistrian forces entered Vasilievca, in 2006 around Varnița, and in 2007 in
12084-594: The People movement were outlawed at the beginning of 2000 and eventually dissolved. Moldovan language Moldovan or Moldavian ( Latin alphabet : limba moldovenească , Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet : лимба молдовеняскэ ) is one of the two local names for the Romanian language in Moldova . Moldovan was declared the official language of Moldova in Article 13 of the constitution adopted in 1994, while
12243-412: The Republic of Moldova and Romania in the face of Kyiv but, at the same time, it marks only the beginning of a difficult, lasting process within the Ukrainian state." Thus, the Moldovan language would not have been derecognised by Ukraine on 18 October, this was only in process. On 16 November, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Ukrainian government stated that it has initiated steps to abolish
12402-408: The Republic of Moldova as the Administrative-Territorial Units of the Left Bank of the Dniester ( Romanian : Unitățile Administrativ-Teritoriale din stînga Nistrului ) or as Stînga Nistrului ("Left (Bank) of the Dniester"). The region's origins can be traced to the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic , which was formed in 1924 within the Ukrainian SSR . During World War II ,
12561-581: 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 ,
12720-560: The Romanian Academy's decision of 1993 and the orthographic reform of 2005. In 2000, the Moldovan Academy recommended adopting the spelling rules used in Romania, and in 2010 launched a schedule for the transition to the new rules that was completed in 2011 (regarding its publications). However, these changes were not implemented by Moldova's Ministry of Education, so the old orthographic conventions were maintained in
12879-472: The Romanian and "Moldovan" languages by implementing appropriate practical measures with due consideration of all legal aspects." Former Moldovan president Igor Dodon , as well as the Revival Party , have criticised this decision. According to an expert on Ukrainian affairs interviewed by the Romanian newspaper Libertatea , "Marcel Ciolacu's visit to Ukraine marked the end of a diplomatic effort by
13038-480: The Romanian colloquial name of the region, Transnistria , meaning "beyond the Dniester". The term Transnistria was used in relation to eastern Moldova for the first time in the year 1989, in the election slogan of the deputy and member of the Popular Front of Moldova Leonida Lari : I will throw out the invaders, aliens and mankurt over the Dniester, I will throw them out of Transnistria, and you,
13197-475: The Romanians, are the real owners of this long-suffering land ... We will make them speak Romanian, respect our language, our culture! The documents of the government of Moldova refer to the region as Stînga Nistrului (in full, Unitățile Administrativ-Teritoriale din Stînga Nistrului ) meaning "Left (Bank) of the Dniester" (in full, "Administrative-territorial unit(s) of the Left Bank of
13356-646: The Slavs (mainly Russians and Ukrainians) and Gagauz , to leave or be expelled from Moldova. On 31 August 1989, the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR adopted Moldovan as the official language with Russian retained only for secondary purposes, returned Moldovan to the Latin alphabet , and declared a shared Moldovan-Romanian linguistic identity. As plans for major cultural changes in Moldova were made public, tensions rose further. Ethnic minorities felt threatened by
13515-485: The Soviets emphasizing distinctions between Moldavians and Romanians. Moldavian has also been recorded by the 1960s' Romanian Linguistic Atlas as the answer to the question "What [language] do you speak?" in parts of Western Moldavia ( Galați and Iași counties). Major developments since the fall of the Soviet Union include resuming use of a Latin script rather than Cyrillic letters in 1989, and several changes in
13674-534: 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. Transnistria Transnistria , officially known as
13833-564: 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
13992-409: 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 the spring and early summer of 1992 until a ceasefire was declared on 21 July 1992, which has held. The conflict
14151-772: The Transnistrian demand to maintain a Russian military presence for the next 20 years as a guarantee for the intended federation. The 5+2 format (or 5+2 talks, comprising Transnistria, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE, plus the United States and the EU as external observers) for negotiation was started in 2005 to deal with the problems, but without results for many years as it was suspended. In February 2011, talks were resumed in Vienna , continuing through to 2018 with some minor agreements being reached. Moldova had, by 2023, dropped
14310-401: The Transnistrian position, which sought equal status between Transnistria and Moldova, but gave Transnistria veto powers over future constitutional changes, thus encouraging Transnistria to sign it. Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin was initially supportive of the plan, but refused to sign it after internal opposition and international pressure from the OSCE and US, and after Russia had endorsed
14469-431: The Transnistrian separatist region) have Moldovan/Romanian as first language, of which 1,486,570 (53%) declared it Moldovan and 652,394 (23.3%) declared it Romanian. In the Republic of Moldova, “more than half of the self-proclaimed Moldovans (53.5%) said that they saw no difference” between the Romanian and Moldovan languages according to a survey conducted by Pal Kolsto and Hans Olav Melberg in 1998. Opinion polling from
14628-425: 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
14787-483: The Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science had announced all 16 schools in Odesa Oblast teaching "Moldovan" had dropped the term in favor of Romanian. On 16 March 2023, the Moldovan Parliament approved a law on referring to the national language as Romanian in all legislative texts and the constitution . On 22 March, the president of Moldova , Maia Sandu , promulgated the law. The language of
14946-550: The Ukrainian SSR. Although exercising no direct control over the territory of Transnistria, the Moldovan government passed the "Law on Basic Provisions of the Special Legal Status of Localities from the Left Bank of the Dniester" on 22 July 2005, which established part of Transnistria (territory of Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic without Bender and without territories, which are under control of Moldova) as
15105-613: The Ukrainian border must be registered with the Moldovan authorities . This agreement was implemented after the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM) took force in 2005. In addition to the unrecognized Transnistrian citizenship, most Transnistrians have Moldovan citizenship, but many also have Russian, Romanian, or Ukrainian citizenship. The main ethnic groups are Russians, Moldovans/Romanians, and Ukrainians. Transnistria, along with Abkhazia and South Ossetia ,
15264-496: The annexed territory with part of the former Moldavian ASSR roughly equivalent to present-day Transnistria. In 1941, after Axis forces invaded the Soviet Union in the Second World War , they defeated the Soviet troops in the region and occupied it. Romania controlled the entire region between Dniester and Southern Bug rivers, including the city of Odesa as local capital. The Romanian-administered territory, known as
15423-419: 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
15582-557: 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
15741-495: The ceasefire has held, the territory's political status remains unresolved: Transnistria is an unrecognized but de facto independent semi-presidential republic with its own government , parliament , military , police , postal system, currency , and vehicle registration. Its authorities have adopted a constitution , flag , national anthem , and coat of arms . After a 2005 agreement between Moldova and Ukraine , all Transnistrian companies seeking to export goods through
15900-538: The changes appeared on the Constitution of Moldova. On 13 April, Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu requested the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to relinquish the recognition of the Moldovan language in Ukraine. However, as of June 2023, Ukraine still continues to make Moldovan-language schoolbooks. On 18 August, Prime Minister of Romania Marcel Ciolacu and Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal had
16059-503: 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
16218-412: 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
16377-478: 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
16536-562: 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
16695-474: 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
16854-499: The country" (the original uses the phrase limba de stat , which literally means 'the language of the state') until 2023. In March 2023 the Parliament of Moldova has approved a law on referring to the national language as Romanian in all legislative texts and the constitution following the 2013 decision of the Constitutional Court of Moldova that gives primacy to the text of the 1991 Declaration of Independence of Moldova that calls
17013-566: The decree of its creation, most of the 14th Guards Army 's military equipment was to be retained by Moldova. Starting from 2 March 1992, there was concerted military action between Moldova and Transnistria. The fighting intensified throughout early 1992. The former Soviet 14th Guards Army entered the conflict in its final stage, opening fire against Moldovan forces; approximately 700 people were killed. Moldova has since then exercised no effective control or influence on Transnistrian authorities. A ceasefire agreement, signed on 21 July 1992, has held to
17172-575: The eastern bank, the village of Roghi , and the city of Dubăsari (situated on the eastern bank and controlled by the PMR) form a security zone along with the six villages and one city controlled by the PMR on the western bank, as well as two ( Varnița and Copanca ) on the same west bank under Moldovan control. The security situation inside it is subject to the Joint Control Commission rulings. The main transportation route in Transnistria
17331-590: The education sector such as in school textbooks. On 17 October 2016, Minister of Education Corina Fusu signed Order No. 872 on the application of the revised spelling rules as adopted by the Moldovan Academy of Sciences, coming into force on the day of signing. Since then the spelling used by institutions subordinated to the Ministry of Education is in line with the spelling norms used in Romania since 1993. This order, however, has no application to other government institutions, nor has Law 3462 been amended to reflect these changes; thus, those institutions continue to use
17490-474: The end he was created. Now it is possible to call him an artificial construct." The president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, promulgated the law on 22 March. It was published on the Monitorul Oficial al Republicii Moldova [ ro ] ("Official Bulletin of the Republic of Moldova"), a state publication where all promulgated laws are published, on 24 March, thus entering into force. On 30 March,
17649-507: The establishment of legal and state relations, although the memorandum's provisions were interpreted differently by the two governments. In November 2003, Dmitry Kozak , a counselor of Russian president Vladimir Putin , proposed a memorandum on the creation of an asymmetric federal Moldovan state, with Moldova holding a majority and Transnistria being a minority part of the federation. Known as "the Kozak memorandum ", it did not coincide with
17808-759: 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
17967-483: The government will be adopted considering the agreements. And all civil servants who allow violations of the government's decision will be subject to disciplinary action. The facts reported in the media regarding the printed textbooks refer to the copies approved for printing in May this year. The main edition of these textbooks was printed in the summer before the decision was made not to use the term "Moldovan language". Today,
18126-576: 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
18285-574: 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
18444-460: The language identifiers as of 2013 to be used for the variant of the Romanian language also known as Moldavian and Moldovan in English, the ISO 639-2 Registration Authority said in explaining the decision. In 1989, the contemporary Romanian version of the Latin alphabet was adopted as the official script of the Moldavian SSR . The Declaration of Independence of Moldova (27 August 1991) named
18603-574: The latter occurring in August 1991. Shortly afterwards, a military conflict between the two parties started in March 1992 and concluded with a ceasefire in July that year. As a part of the ceasefire agreement, a three-party (Moldova, Russia, and Transnistria) Joint Control Commission and a trilateral peacekeeping force subordinated to the commission were created to deal with ceasefire violations. Although
18762-475: The latter responses were from rural populations. While the majority of the population in the capital city of Chișinău gave their language as "Romanian", in the countryside more than six-sevenths of the Romanian/Moldovan speakers indicated "Moldovan" as their native language, reflecting historic conservatism. Currently, 2,184,065 people or 80.2% of those covered by the 2014 census on the right bank of
18921-628: 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
19080-499: The national language Romanian. The law was approved by the parliament on 16 March, and the President of Moldova promulgated the law on 22 March. In the breakaway region of Transnistria , Moldovan is declared an official language, together with Ukrainian and Russian . Standard Moldovan is widely considered to be identical to standard Romanian. Writing about "essential differences", Vasile Stati , supporter of Moldovenism ,
19239-469: 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
19398-574: The official name of the language back to Romanian ; the Moldovan Parliament, dominated by the Democratic Agrarian Party and various far left forces, dismissed the proposal as promoting "Romanian expansionism". In 2003, a Moldovan–Romanian dictionary ( Dicționar Moldovenesc–Românesc (2003)) by Vasile Stati was published aiming to prove that there existed two distinct languages. Reacting to this, linguists of
19557-580: The official alphabet in Moldova (then Moldavian SSR ). In 1989, the Latin script was once again adopted in Moldova by Law 3462 of 31 August 1989, which provided rules for transliterating Cyrillic to Latin, along with the orthographic rules used in Romania at the time. Transnistria, however, uses the Cyrillic alphabet. Though not immediately adopting these, the Academy of Sciences of Moldova acknowledged both
19716-510: The official language as "Romanian". The 1994 constitution, passed under a Communist government, declared "Moldovan" as the state language. When in 1993 the Romanian Academy changed the official orthography of the Romanian language, the Institute of Linguistics at the Academy of Sciences of Moldova did not initially make these changes, which however have since been adopted. In 1996, the Moldovan president Mircea Snegur attempted to change
19875-415: 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
20034-477: The present day. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is trying to facilitate a negotiated settlement. Under OSCE auspices, on 8 May 1997, Moldovan President Petru Lucinschi and Transnistrian President Igor Smirnov , signed the "Memorandum on the principles of normalization of relations between the Republic of Moldova and Transnistria", also known as the "Primakov Memorandum", sustaining
20193-627: The prospects of removing Russian as the official language , which served as the medium of interethnic communication, and by the possible future reunification of Moldova and Romania, as well as the ethnocentric rhetoric of the PFM. The Yedinstvo (Unity) Movement, established by the Slavic population of Moldova, pressed for equal status for both the Russian and Moldovan languages. Transnistria's ethnic and linguistic composition differed significantly from most of
20352-432: The rest of Moldova. The proportion of ethnic Russians and Ukrainians was especially high and an overall majority of the population, some of them Moldovans, spoke Russian as their mother tongue. The nationalist PFM won the first free parliamentary elections in the Moldavian SSR in early 1990, and its agenda started slowly to be implemented. On 2 September 1990, the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (PMSSR)
20511-539: The same literary language . The standard alphabet used in Moldova is equivalent to the Romanian alphabet , which uses the Latin script . Until 1918, varieties of the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet were used. The Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet (derived from the Russian alphabet and standardised in the Soviet Union) was used in 1924–1932 and 1938–1989 and remains in use in Transnistria. The history of
20670-520: The same language and that the Constitution of Moldova should be amended to reflect this—not by substituting Romanian for the word Moldovan , but by adding that "Romanian and Moldovan are the same language". The education minister Valentin Beniuc said: "I have stated more than once that the notion of a Moldovan language and a Romanian language reflects the same linguistic phenomenon in essence." The president of Moldova Vladimir Voronin acknowledged that
20829-429: The same language, only half of the Moldovans (53.2 percent) share this view". In schools in Moldova, the term Romanian language has been used since independence. In December 2007, Moldovan president Vladimir Voronin asked for the term to be changed to Moldovan language , but due to public pressure against that choice, the term was not changed. In December 2013, the Constitutional Court of Moldova ruled that
20988-416: 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,
21147-489: 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
21306-587: The situation in the area under Romanian control, implementing a process of Romanianization . During the Romanian occupation of 1941–44, between 150,000 and 250,000 Ukrainian and Romanian Jews were deported to Transnistria; the majority were murdered or died from other causes in the ghettos and concentration camps of the Governorate. After the Red Army advanced into the area in 1944, Soviet authorities executed, exiled or imprisoned hundreds of inhabitants of
21465-594: The situation, and in 2024 the Supreme Council was convened for the first time since 2006, with the council requesting economic assistance from Russia, and stating that Moldova was actively committing a genocide in the region. The harsh language towards Moldova, coupled with the Russian-backed Șor protests , and an attempted coup plotted by the Wagner Group has shifted Moldova further towards
21624-506: 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
21783-470: 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
21942-546: The statutory name of the official language used in Moldova. At one point of particular confusion about identity in the 1990s, all references to geography in the name of the language were dropped, and it was officially known simply as limba de stat — 'the state language'. Moldovan was assigned the code mo in ISO 639-1 and code mol in ISO 639-2 and ISO 639-3 . Since November 2008, these have been deprecated, leaving ro and ron (639-2/T) and rum (639-2/B),
22101-531: 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
22260-405: The term "Moldovan language" with "Romanian language" in its curriculum. On 10 October, during a meeting between Ciolacu and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy , Ciolacu once again requested that the Ukrainian authorities stop recognizing the existence of the Moldovan language. On the same day, during a meeting with Romanian journalists, Zelenskyy was asked if Ukraine would stop recognising
22419-567: The term 5+2 in diplomatic discussions. After the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in March 2014, the head of the Transnistrian parliament asked to join Russia . After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Ukraine sealed its border with Transnistria, which had been the primary route for goods to enter the region. As such, Transnistria is wholly reliant on Moldova to allow imports through its own border. Transnistrian politicians have grown increasingly anxious about
22578-514: The term in favor of Romanian. However, Anatol Popescu, president of the Bessarabia National–Cultural Association, reported that in the Romanian school of Utkonosivka [ ro ; uk ] ( Erdec-Burnu ), the term had been replaced with "language of the national minority" instead, protesting against this and against other issues that had been reported regarding the school's intended renaming and reorganization into
22737-494: The time formed part of the Kingdom of Romania . One of the reasons for the creation of the Moldavian ASSR was the desire of the Soviet Union at the time to eventually incorporate Bessarabia. On 28 June 1940, the USSR annexed Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina from Romania under the terms of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , and on 2 August 1940 the Supreme Soviet of the USSR created the Moldavian SSR by combining part of
22896-420: The two languages are identical, but said that Moldovans should have the right to call their language "Moldovan". In the 2004 census , of the citizens living in Moldova, 60% identified Moldovan as their native language; 16.5% chose Romanian. While 37% of all urban Romanian/Moldovan speakers identified Romanian as their native language, in the countryside 86% of the Romanian/Moldovan speakers indicated Moldovan,
23055-939: 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
23214-435: The use of the term "Transnistria" within the region, imposing a fine of 360 rubles or up to 15 days imprisonment for using the name in public. In 1924, the Moldavian ASSR was proclaimed within the Ukrainian SSR . The ASSR included today's Transnistria (4,100 km ; 1,600 sq mi) and an area (4,200 km ; 1,600 sq mi) to the northeast around the city of Balta , but nothing from Bessarabia , which at
23373-567: 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
23532-499: 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
23691-522: 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
23850-558: Was declared wanted by the Security Service of Ukraine due to suspicion of collaboration and encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Transnistria is a semi-presidential republic with a powerful presidency. The president is directly elected for a maximum of two consecutive five-year terms. The current President is Vadim Krasnoselsky . The Supreme Council is a unicameral legislature. It has 43 members who are elected for 5-year terms. Elections take place within
24009-417: 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,
24168-433: 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
24327-434: Was in use. From a linguistic perspective, Moldovan is an alternative name for the varieties of the Romanian language spoken in the Republic of Moldova (see History of the Romanian language ). Before 1918, during the period between the wars, and after the union of Bessarabia with Romania , scholars did not have consensus that Moldovans and the Romanians formed a single ethnic group. The Moldovan peasants had grown up in
24486-405: Was included in Romania in 1918, the Cyrillic alphabet was officially forbidden in the region. In the interwar period , Soviet authorities in the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic alternately used Latin or Cyrillic for writing the language, mirroring the political goals of the moment. Between 1940 and 1989, i.e., during Soviet rule, the new Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet replaced Latin as
24645-621: Was proclaimed as a Soviet republic by an ad hoc assembly, the Second Congress of the Peoples' Representatives of Transnistria, following a successful referendum . Violence escalated when in October 1990 the PFM called for volunteers to form armed militias to stop an autonomy referendum in Gagauzia , which had an even higher proportion of ethnic minorities. In response, volunteer militias were formed in Transnistria. In April 1990, nationalist mobs attacked ethnic Russian members of parliament, while
24804-512: Was reported that Igor Smirnov collected 103.6% of the votes. The PMR government said "the government of Moldova launched a campaign aimed at convincing international observers not to attend" an election held on 11 December 2005 – but monitors from the Russian-led Commonwealth of Independent States election monitors ignored that and declared the ballot democratic. The opposition Narodovlastie party and Power to
24963-491: Was taken against Transnistria and the new authorities were slowly able to establish control of the region. Following the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt , the Pridnestrovian Moldavian SSR declared its independence from the Soviet Union. On 5 November 1991 Transnistria abandoned its socialist ideology and was renamed "Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic". The Transnistria War followed armed clashes on
25122-413: Was the Popular Front of Moldova (PFM) . In early 1988, the PFM demanded that the Soviet authorities declare Moldovan the only state language, return to the use of the Latin alphabet, and recognise the shared ethnic identity of Moldovans and Romanians. The more radical factions of the PFM espoused extreme anti-minority, ethnocentric and chauvinist positions, calling for minority populations, particularly
25281-450: 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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