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Transnistria

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Transnistria or Transdniestria (Russian: Приднестровье, Pridn'estrov'ye; Romanian: Transnistria; referred to as "Stînga Nistrului" (Left Bank of the Nistru) by official Moldovan sources, Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublika by Transnistrian official sources, and Moldavian Republic of Transdniestria (MRT) by European Court of Human Rights) is a breakaway entity from Moldova, in Eastern Europe, between Moldova and Ukraine. The name comes from it being the area of Moldova east of the river Dniester (Nistru).

Moldovan Republic of Transnistria
Flag of Transnistria Coat of arms
(In Detail) (In Detail)

Administrative map of Moldova
with Transnistria highlighted in yellow
Languages Moldovan/Romanian, Russian and Ukrainian
Political status breakaway
Capital Tiraspol
President Igor Smirnov
Independence
 – Declared
 – Recognition 		From Moldova
 September 2, 1990
 none
Area 3,567 km² (2001 est.)
Population 580,000 (2004 census)
Currency Transnistrian ruble
Time zone UTC +2
Internet TLD none
Calling Code 373 533

Political status

It is internationally considered to be part of Moldova, and previously part of the Moldavian SSR, but has declared independence as the Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic, with Tiraspol as its capital. The last official data shows a great ethnic diversity and a Romanian relative majority of 40%.

The Russian authorities had contributed both militarily and politically to the creation of a separatist regime in Transdniestria. The TMR remained under the effective authority, or at the very least under the decisive influence, of Russia, and in any event that it survived by virtue of the military, economic, financial and political support that Russia gave it.

Transnistrian local authorities put obstructions to the Moldovans' right to education in the Romanian language written in the Latin script. Arbitrary arrests of citizens, especially of pro-Moldovan and pro-Romanian political views, have likewise been reported.

See also:

History

From the Middle Ages to the 20th Century

In the early middle ages the region was populated by Slavic tribes of Ulichs and Tivertsy as well as by Turkic nomads such as Pechenegs and the Polovtsi. A part of Kievan Rus' at times, and a formal part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 15th century, the area came under the control of the Ottoman Empire in 1504. It was eventually ceded to the Russian Empire in 1792. At that time, the population was sparse and mostly Moldovan/Romanian and Ukrainian, but also included a nomadic Tatar population.

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

Autonomous Republic

In 1918 the Directory of Ukraine (at that time independent) proclaimed its sovereignty over the left bank of the Dniestr. At that time, 48% of the population was being Ukrainians, 30% Moldavians, 9% Russians and 8.5% Jews. The region became part of the 'Moldavian Autonomous Oblast' created in 1922 in the Ukrainian SSR. The entity was transformed into an autonomous republic in 1923. Romanian speakers still made up a significant portion of the population of the region and Romanian-language schools were opened.

WWII

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

In 1941, after the Axis forces invaded Bessarabia in the course of the Second World War, they advanced over the Dniester river. Romania annexed the entire region between Dniester and Bug rivers. The Soviet Union regained the area in 1944 when the Soviet Army advanced into the territory driving out the Axis forces.

Soviet Moldova

The Moldovian SSR became the subject of a systematic policy of Russification, even more so then under Czarist times. Cyrillic was the official script for Romanian, renamed "Moldavian". It had an official status in the republic, together with Russian, which was the language of "interethnical communication" and the official language of the entire Soviet Union.

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

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

The Breakaway

Main article: War of Transnistria

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

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

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

Aftermath

Even after the ceasefire agreement, Russia had continued to provide military, political and economic support to the separatist regime, thus enabling it to survive by strengthening itself and by acquiring a certain amount of autonomy vis-a-vis Moldova. The General Lebed, commander of ROG since June 1992, acted as a Transdniestrian politician, said many times that his army was able to reach Bucharest in two hours. In the security zone controlled by the Russian peacekeeping forces, the RMT regime continued to deploy its troops illegally and to manufacture and sell weapons in breach of the agreement of 21 July 1992. In February 2003, the USA and EU imposed visa restrictions against the Transnistrian leadership.

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

The Kozak Memorandum

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

In mid-November 2003, Russia suddenly tabled a detailed memorandum providing the most detailed proposal to date for a constitution of a united asymetric federal Moldavian state. First published in Russian on the website of Transnistria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the text was promoted by Dmitri Kozak, a senior figure on President Putin’s staff. The Kozak memorandum represented a break with the Transnistria leadership's long-held position that Transnistria should have equal status with the rest of Moldova.

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

Large demonstrations against the Kozak memorandum took place in Chisinau in the days following the publication of the Russian proposals. Moldova’s leadership refused the signing of this memorandum without the coordination with the European organizations. A visit by President Putin to Moldova was cancelled. Moldova and the Kozak memorandum was a key issue at the OSCE ministerial meeting in Maastricht on December 2003, and disagreement between Russia on the one hand and the EU and the US on the other on Moldova was one of the principal reasons why a final joint declaration was not adopted after the meeting.

2004 Crisis

Roughly 11,200 children out of 79,000 Transdniestrian schoolchildren are "trained" in the Moldavian language -using Cyrillic script. In the summer of 2004, the Transnistrian authorities forcibly closed six schools that used the Romanian language in the Latin script. A number of 3,400 enrolled children were affected by this measure. Several teachers and parents who opposed the closures were arrested. During the crisis, the Moldovan government decided to create a blockade that would isolate the autonomous republic from the rest of the country. The blockade was ineffective because of a lack of cooperation from Ukraine's government. Transnistria retaliated by a series of actions meant to destabilize the economic situation in Moldova, in particular, by cutting the power supply from the power plants that were built predominantly in Transnistria in the Soviet times. As a result, this crisis generated power outages in parts of Moldova. The Romanian schools were re-opened but they are still on the status of "non-governmental educational institutions".

Human Rights

The Republic of Moldova, as well as other foreign states and NGO's claim that the separatist government of Transnistria is authoritarian and has a poor human rights record, and is accused of arbitrary arrest and torture. Some organizations claim that the right of free assembly or association is not fully respected and that religious freedom is limited by withholding registration of religious groups, such as Baptists or Methodists.

The 2001 presidential elections were not considered free by some analysts and observers. Critics of the past elections claim that some parties and publications were banned just before the elections, and that the results were suspicious, as in some regions it was reported that Igor Smirnov collected 103.6 percent of the votes.

The Republic of Moldova also accuses the MRT administration of organizing incursions into left bank villages controlled by the Moldovan government such as Vasilevca, which they claim also result in arbitrary arrests, beatings and sometimes even death.

In the case of Ilaşcu and Others v. Moldova and Russia (2004), the European Court of Human Rights held unanimously that Moldova and Russia are to take all necessary measures to put an end to the arbitrary detention of Ilie Ilaşcu Group members, Andrei Ivanţoc and Tudor Petrov-Popa, still imprisoned in Transnistria. Ilie Ilaşcu was arrested, together with four other persons, at their homes in Tiraspol in early days of June 1992. They were subsequently charged with the murder of two "civil servants" and terrorist crimes against the MRT. It has been alleged that the real reason for their imprisonment was their political association or their lack of support for Transnistria.

Population

At the last census of 1989, the population was 546,400.

Recently, there has been a substantial emigration from the region due to economic hardships of the 1990s. This is one of the reasons why a disproportionately large part of the population is past the age of retirement.

Ethnicity

1989 census

  • Moldovans (Romanians): 40%
  • Ukrainians: 28%
  • Russians: 24%
  • Others: 8%

2004*

  • Moldovans (Romanians): 34%
  • Ukrainians: 29%
  • Russians: 29%

These numbers represent an estimate utilized by various sources. The results from the 2004 Transnistrian census have not yet been released by the PMR officially. The validity of these numbers is disputed, as they cannot be confirmed by an official source.

Economy

The GDP is about $420 million [1] and the GDP per capita, based on the exchange rate, is $662, making the area slightly poorer than Moldova, and possibly the poorest region in Europe.

Reports of visitors to Transnistria have confirmed that the average salary of a Transnistrian does not exceed $20-$40. Although the population of the republic was 580,000 in 2004, it is estimated that about 375,000 people actually reside in the region since the rest are usually working in Russia or Ukraine.

The region has a number of factories, although some only posses older technology. One is a munitions factory in Tighina (Bender) while another important steel factory exists in Rîbniţa (Rybnitsa). The factory in Rîbniţa brings about 50% of the republic's revenue and is the main provider of jobs in that city.

Another important factory is the distillery "Kvint" of Tiraspol, famous for its strong spirits, which is also shown on the 5 Transnistrian ruble banknote.

An important company in the republic is Sheriff, which is owned by president Smirnov's eldest son. Sheriff is in a virtual control of the economy, from the FC Sheriff Tiraspol football team and its newly constructed stadium to a chain of stores in all of Transnistria.

Seats of Administrative regions of Transnistria

Russian names, if different from the Romanian names, are listed in parentheses.


Profiles

Others

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