About the self-proclaimed Transnistrian Moldavian Republic

The birth of the self-proclaimed Transnistrian republic is closely related to the presence of the 14th Soviet Army (since 1956) inside the Moldavian space. The 14th Russian Army remains even today on the territory of the Republic of Moldova (the former Soviet republic), guarding probably the biggest Soviet weaponry in the European part of the Soviet Union, armament stockpiled here in Soviet times in expectation of an eventual third world war. In 1984 the headquarter of the 14th Army was moved from Chişinău to Tiraspol. The presence of this iron fist encouraged and begot the creation of a pole of Russian power on the eastern bank of River Nistru. On September 2nd 1990, still in Soviet times, the Transnistrian Moldavian Republic was unilaterally proclaimed, aiming that the tiny region dominated by the 14th Soviet Army become a union republic, that would have made it equal in rights with the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldavia. Formally, Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev declared this proclamation null and void.

The Transnistria that issued the coins pictured here is just about to pop up into history as the Soviet Union broke up in 1991. On August 25th 1991 the Republic of Moldova proclaimed its independence. Once with the Independence the Republic of Moldova demanded the Soviet Government to cease the occupation and to withdraw the Army from the national territory. The independence was followed by regaining most Romanian national values lost for about fifty years during the Soviet rule: national colors (red, yellow and blue), the national currency (leu and bani), the Romanian language, the national literature and for a while even the national anthem "Wake up, Romanian".

Inside Tiraspol, important eastern town of the Republic of Moldavia resided and still resides an important Soviet and now Russian military base. Moreover, the russifying process being stronger in that part of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, the Russian speakers and the ones not necessarily Russians but feeling Russia closer to their hearts were predominant on the eastern strip. They obviously did not like the changes that the newly independent Republic of Moldavia underwent. Backed up and endowed by the Russian 14th Army residing in Tiraspol, the allogeneic people there, (Russians and Russian speaking nationalities), launched a powerful assault on the new authorities.

Only after the Republic of Moldova became member of the United Nations, president Mircea Snegur (1990 - 1996) authorized military actions against the rebels that had already attacked the Moldavian local police stations on the left bank of river Nistru and from nearby Tighina (city on the right bank). At first, the Moldavian government granted to the Russian minority from Transnistria two days to lay down the weapons by the Appeal of the Republic of Moldavia's Government to the Inhabitants of the Raions on Left Bank of Nistru published on March 17th 1992 in Moldova suverană - (Sovereign Moldavia), then at April 1st 1992 dispatched groups of policemen into the city of Tighina.

Text of the appeal:

FELLOW CITIZENS! Despite perseverent efforts of the Republic of Moldavia's leadership, oriented towards finding by peaceful means the solution for the conflict in the raions on the left bank of Nistru, the leaders from Tiraspol pushed their extremist political adventure, with a neat antipopular character, over to its logical end - civil war. In the past days, unprecedented by their extent attacks have been launched against the legal structures of power, the civil population is being terrorized, banditry diversions are taking place. Thusly, on March 14th, the bridges over Nistru have been blown up in the area of Vadul-lui-Vodă and Dubăsari, and during the night of 14th to 15th March, Cossack mercenary terrorists captured a great amount of armament.

As result of situation's worsening, the armed conflicts get a general character, involving more and more of the civil population. The number of victims is increasing.

In this situation, we address the population on the left bank of Nistru the appeal to support the legal structures of power, in the effort of constraining banditry formations to lay down the weapons, and the mercenaries - to leave our republic.

We address, also, to citizens that under the pressure of circumstances ended under the influence of Tiraspolian putsch-ists and lay their hand on weapons: it is not yet too late to cease this absurd war, it is not yet too late to give a proof of reason and civic consciousness. We make the proposal that in 48 hours, starting at 18.00 hours of the day of March 15 this year, the weapons to be benevolently surrendered to the legal organs of power. Otherwise, the republican organs of maintaining order will take all the measures necessary for citizens' defense, irrespective to nationality, against the discretionary abusive action unleashed.

We make appeal to the military to respect the principle of not interfering in the internal affairs of our republic, to respect its laws and to counteract with determination the attempts of capturing weapons through violence and of employing them against peaceful population.

Citizens!

In this decisive moment and a moment of heavy trial, on everyone of us depends whether will we push the republic into the chaos of civil war or will we realize and proceed to peaceful creative work into the benefit of Moldavia's people.

Mercenary Cossacks came in the aid of the separatists, undisturbedly crossing Ukraine to Moldavia without any trouble at all. The 14th Army supplied weapons to the rebels, that were far better armed than the Moldavians. The Republic of Moldavia could count at the time only on the weakly armed forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Beside the entire left bank, Moldavia lost the city of Tighina (denominated also Bender by the Turks, name that passed to the Russians, old Moldavian city and fortress on the right bank of river Nistru).

Chişinău is close to Tighina and only the heroic struggle of volunteers and policemen armed with nothing but handguns held back the separatists that intended to completely overthrown the state leadership.

The Russian vice-president Alexander Rutskoi obviously committed during this crisis a serious interference in the internal affairs of the Republic of Moldavia, visiting Transnistria at April 5th and demanding the independence of the separatist region. Rutskoi declared: "We are on the verge of a total war". At July 22nd President Mircea Snegur said in the Moldavian Parliament that the Republic was, practically, engaged in war with Russia. General Lebed, the commander of the 14th Russian Army since June 1992, declared once that he could be in Bucharest with his army 24 hours after such an order would have been issued, aiming to discourage any possible attempt of the Romanian state to support the independent Moldavia. Simultaneously, Lebed was member of both the Russian and Transnistrian parliaments. Although having local forms of ID cards, most Transnistrian parliament (Supreme Soviet) members acquired Russian citizenship, not Moldavian.

The war lasted for approximately six months, having been stopped by the truce of July 21st 1992, that practically confirmed the loss of the left bank of River Nistru for the Republic of Moldavia (sovereign state, member of the United Nations).

Many volunteers in the Transnistrian War were veterans of the cruel Soviet-Afghanistan War. They put on again for the conflict at Nistru the renowned striped blouse worn by the Soviet soldiers in an aggressive war, but this time to defend their own home. The well-known Romanian poet Adrian Păunescu, born in 1943 on the left side of River Prut, brought his artistically cenacle (The Flame Cenacle - Cenaclul Flacăra) in the front trenches of the Transnistrian War, in order to warm up the hearts of the warriors. The very young Republic of Moldavia did not receive from Romania any effective political support, in spite of the moral duty it had to help the menaced brothers.

A defender of the Moldavian statehood, Ilie Ilaşcu was captured on June 2nd 1992 - together with four of his comrades - by the self-proclaimed authorities of Transnistria. After six months of trial, a Transnistrian wannabe tribunal found him guilty of war crimes and terrorism, and was sentenced to death along his fellow fighters. Ilaşcu and his group were trialed in a barred cage, as dangerous animals at a circus. At the time of the trial, Ilie Ilaşcu was already elected as member of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldavia. Only a paper with his name on it on his desk marked his presence in the Parliament. Ilie Ilaşcu spent many long years in prison, in total seclusion, without any medical care that he badly needed. In 2000, still in prison, he was elected senator in the Parliament of Romania, representing the county of Bacău. From this newly acquired position, Ilie Ilaşcu became member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (although he still in Transnistrian captivity). He was freed in 2001, probably as consequence of the international pressure over the Russian Federation, which exerted in turn its influence over the self-proclaimed republic from the left bank of river Nistru. The last war comrades of Ilie Ilaşcu were freed from illegal detention in Tiraspol at last in June 2007, after 15 years of harsh imprisonment.

A difficult to understand stalemate settled, the tiny self proclaimed state of Russian expression being reasserted over two cities of up to 300.000 inhabitants together and a few less important localities. About Tighina it is worth noticing that the Russians and now the Transnistrian self proclaimed authorities preferred the later, newer name of Bender (meaning harbour in Turkish) that the Turks gave to the fortress after conquering the city at their turn, instead of the native denomination.

The Nistrian Moldavian Republic as they call themselves is the only place in Europe now using the hammer and sickle united as authority sign. Although not formally recognized by anyone, they have president and parliament. The powerful 14th Russian Army still resides in Tiraspol despite their formal intentions to leave, so that Moscow holds a convenient checkmate at hand at all time over the Chişinău authorities. General Lebed, chief of this army at and after the war at Nistru, although a Russian citizen, became member of the parliament of the self proclaimed republic. Europe remained reluctant to intervene over a problem over which Russia already had the upper hand.

According to the official results of the Transnistrian census from 2004, in Transnistria live 31.9 % Moldavians, 30.3% Russians, 28.8% Ukrainians and other several peoples in insignificant proportions. Formally, the entire territory of today's Transnistria belongs to the Republic of Moldavia. In fact, the president of the Republic, Mr. Vladimir Voronin, can not visit the grave of his parents from the village Corjova near Dubăsari, fallen in the separatist zone. Igor Smirnov, the president of the self-proclaimed republic, is an ex-worker from Kamchatka, i.e. from the Russian border near Japan, and has arrived in Moldavia only in 1987.

The war at River Nistru was defensive for the Republic of Moldavia. Thanks to the fights carried by policemen and volunteers, the Moldavian state succeeded in keeping the majority of its territory and a Romanian character until today.

Conclusions At a critical glimpse at the Romanian Middle Ages and at the modern period, it can be noted that the Ottoman Empire had an overwhelming importance in the conservation of the national identity and of the very existence of the Romanians as a nationality, after Walachia, Moldavia and later Transilvania fell under Turkish rule. The almost 400 years of Turkish domination brought with them a decrease of political importance of the Romanians in the European Middle Ages, an abnormal impoverishment of their countries, the ignorance of the people and impregnation with some serious Oriental flaws to the minds of the Romanians that even today are unable to shake them off. In spite of all these, the Ottoman presence protected the Romanian space from Russian and then Austrian expansionism. The Turkish rule did not imposed large colonization of foreign peoples in the Romanian Principalities, did not force the changing of the Orthodox religion or of the State and Church system, did not use denationalization as political instrument and inflicted as aftermath at first only lesser territorial losses (the zones of Giurgiu, Brăila and Hotin - that were raias, or Turkish administrated territories, inhabited by non-Muslim people - and Bugeac - the old Basarabia region). The great territorial losses suffered by the Romanians - the historical heart of Moldavia (1775), named afterwards Bucovina by the Austrians, and the eastern half of the same principality (1812), named afterwards Basarabia by the Russians - were possible only on the background of the weakening and diminishing of the Ottoman power in Europe (against which the most illustrious Romanian voivods had fought until the capitulation and even after it!). The gradual unweaving of the Ottoman Empire in Europe slowly led to the end of the principality of Transylvania, to the almost complete vanishing of the Romanians (and Tartarians) from Transnistria, to the uprooting and scattering of the Aromanians from the Greece and the adjacent countries reborn after the Balkan Wars. The Ottoman Empire was characterized by a quite modern concept of ethnical and religious tolerance that today is priced and even compulsory to all the states of the world, imposed as such by humanitarian principles and watched over by the great powers. In a scenario in which the fall of Ottoman domination in Europe would have happened one hundred years earlier, the situation of the Romanians in the Republic of Moldova at the beginning of the third millennium could have been the same as in the today's Transnistria, and in the today's Romania, similar to the one in the Republic of Moldavia.

For further information confront the Modern and contemporary history section inside the Brief and Comprehensive History of Romanians and Romania page.