Transnistria

For other uses, see Transnistria (disambiguation).

Transnistria
(Pridnestrovie)

Flag Coat of Arms
Motto: For the right to live on this land
Anthem: Anthem of Transnistria
Capital and Largest city	Tiraspol 46°50′N 29°37′E
Official languages	Russian (used by the central government), Ukrainian and Moldovan
Official script	Cyrillic alphabet
Government President	Semi-presidential system Igor Smirnov
Recognition Independence Recognition From Moldova	none September 2, 1990 none
Area  • Water (%)	4,163 km²  1,607 sq mi 2.35%
Population	547,500 (2004)
Currency	Transnistrian ruble (TR)
Time zone  • Summer (DST)	EET (UTC+2) EEST (UTC+3)
Internet TLD	none; in some cases .ru and .md are used
Calling code	373 5xx

Transnistria, officially Pridnestrovskaya Moldavskaya Respublika ("Trans-Dniester Moldovan Republic"), PMR (short form: Pridnestrovie) is a region of the Republic of Moldova in Eastern Europe. The unrecognised state has been de facto independent from Moldova since September 2, 1990, when it made a declaration of independence and defeated Moldovan forces with the aid of Russian 14th Army (formerly Soviet), contingents of Russian Cossack and Ukrainian volunteers in the War of Transnistria. While a ceasefire has held since 1992, the Council of Europe recognises Transnistria as a "frozen conflict" region. The sovereignty of Transnistria is an issue of contention. Transnistria continues to claim independence and maintains sovereignty over its territory.

Names

Main article: Names for Transnistria

Although the region is most commonly known in English as Transnistria, its official name is Pridnestrovskaya Moldavskaya Respublika (Moldovan: Република Молдовеняскэ Нистрянэ, Russian: Приднестровская Молдавская Республика, Ukrainian: Придністровська Молдавська Республіка, ПМР) as per the Constitution of Transnistria. This is abbreviated PMR.

The official short form of the name is Pridnestrovie (transliteration of the Russian "Приднестровье").

Several other names are also in common use, all meaning "beyond the (river) Dniester".

Political status

Main article: Disputed status of Transnistria

Transnistria is internationally considered to be part of the Republic of Moldova, and previously part of the Moldavian SSR, but has declared independence as the Pridnestrovskaya Moldavskaya Respublika or Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), with Tiraspol as its capital.

The Russian authorities contributed both militarily and politically to the creation of a separatist government in Transnistria. The PMR remained under the effective authority, or at the very least under the decisive influence, of Russia, and in any event it survived by virtue of the military, economic, financial and political support that Russia gave it. Despite the Istanbul Agreement of 1999, Russia failed to fully withdraw its troops from Transnistria, although the Russian contingent has been reduced to approximately 1,500 troops, with 360 of them being part of the peacekeeping efforts of the Joint Control Commission created jointly with Moldovan participation.

Internal politics

The Transnistrian parliament building in Tiraspol

Formally, Transnistria has a multi-party system and an unicameral parliament, called the Transnistrian Supreme Soviet. The president is elected by popular vote. The latest parliamentary elections were held in December 2005; however, they were not monitored by international organizations such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and were not recognized by other countries.

There is disagreement as to whether elections in Transnistria are free and fair. The majority of Western organizations, especially the OSCE, have declared that no democratic elections can take place in the region under the present circumstances and have refused to even monitor them. Critics of the past elections claim that some parties and publications were banned just before the elections of 2001, and that the results of that elections were suspicious, as in some regions it was reported that Kamchatka-raised former metalworker Igor Smirnov collected 103.6% of the votes. Nevertheless, some pro_russian organizations, such as CIS-EMO, have participated and have called them democratic. A 2005 report from the European Union's Institute for Security Studies sees democratic advances and states that "Unlike others authoritarian entities like Belarus, Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe and Cuba.. Transnistrian politics is moving towards more pluralism."

2006 referendum

Main article: 2006 referendum in Transnistria

A referendum was held on 17 September 2006 asking voters:

1. Do you support the course towards the independence of the PMR and the subsequent free association with the Russian Federation?
2. Do you consider it possible to renounce the PMR's independent status and subsequently become part of the Republic of Moldova?

78.6 percent of the registered voters of Transnistria voted in the referendum. 97.1 percent of voters supported the first point, while 2.3 percent did not support it. 3.4 percent of voters supported the second point, while 94.6 percent did not support it.

Moldova and the West refused to recognize the referendum or its results, dismissing the poll as illegitimate.

In addition, the representatives of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Moldova (HCHRM) claim to have observed a series of infringements at the referendum.

See also:

• War of Transnistria
• Elections in Transnistria
• List of political parties in Transnistria

History

Main article: History of Transnistria

The first settlement, Tyras, was an ancient Greek colony of Miletus, probably founded about 600 BC, situated on the mouth of the Dniester river (Tyras) near today's Tiraspol. In the early Middle Ages, Transnistria was populated by Slavic tribes of Ulichs and Tivertsy and Turkic nomads. It was part of Kievan Rus' at times, and a formal part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 15th century. In 1792 it became part of the Russian Empire

Moldavian ASSR (in orange) and Romania, 1924-1940

Transnistria first became autonomous in 1924 with the proclamation of the Moldavian ASSR which included today's Transnistria as well as parts of Ukraine, but none of Bessarabia.

The Moldavian SSR, which was organised 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 and a part of the Moldavian ASSR which is roughly equivalent to present-day Transnistria.

In 1941, after Axis forces invaded Bessarabia in the course of the Second World War, they advanced over the Dniester river. By March 1943, a total of 185,000 Ukrainian and Romanian Jews had been deported and murdered under Romanian and German occupation of Transnistria. The Soviet Union regained the area in 1944.

Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of perestroika in the Soviet Union allowed the political liberalisation at the regional level in 1980s. On 2 September 1990, the Moldovan Republic of Transnistria was unilaterally proclaimed as a Soviet republic by the "Second Congress of the Peoples' Representatives of Transnistria".

The War of Transnistria involved armed clashes on a limited scale that broke out between the Transnistrian separatists and the Moldovan police as early as November 1990 at Dubasari. On 2 March 1992, Moldovan President Mircea Snegur authorized concerted military action against rebel forces which had been attacking Moldovan police outposts on the left bank of the Nistru, and on a certain smaller section of the right bank in the southern city of bendery. The rebels, aided by contingents of Russian Cossacks and the Russian 14th Army, consolidated their control over most of the disputed area, but by no means over all of it, as later testified by Moldovan police and volunteer forces in battles at Tighina and Varnita, at Cocieri-Dubasari and Cosnita-Dorotcaia plateaus. As a result of this civil war, hundreds of people were killed, and thousands were forced to leave Transnistria as refugees. Throughout 1992 Fighting intensified, until a ceasefire was signed on 21 July 1992 which has held ever since.

The OSCE is trying to facilitate a negotiated settlement. Under OSCE auspices, on 8 May 1997, the Moldovan President Petru Lucinschi and the Pridnestrovian president Igor Smirnov, signed the "Memorandum on the principles of normalizations of the relations between the Republic of Moldova and Transnistria" also known as "Primakov Memorandum", sustaining the establishment of legal and state relations although the memorandum's provisions had diverging legal and political interpretations in Chişinău and Tiraspol.

In May 2005, the Ukrainian government of Viktor Yushchenko proposed a seven-point plan by which the separation of Transnistria and Moldova would be settled through a negotiated settlement and free elections.

Border issues

During the 1992 War of Transnistria some villages from the Dubăsari district which geographically belong to Transnistria rebelled against Transnistrian separatist government and, actually are under the control of the central government of the Republic of Moldova. Those villages are: Cocieri, Molovata Nouă, Coşniţa, Pîrîta, Pohrebea, Doroţcaia. The village of Corjova (birthplace of Moldavian president Vladimir Voronin) is divided between a Transnistrian controlled area and a Republic of Moldova controlled area.

At the same time, some areas which geographically belong to Basarabia and not to Transnistria are controlled by the separatist authorities from Tiraspol. Those areas include the city of Tighina (Bender in Russian) and the villages of Gîsca, Protiagailovca, Chiţcani, Mereneşti, Zagornoe, Cremenciug.

Human rights

Main article: Human rights of Transnistria

The Republic of Moldova, as well as other foreign states and non-governmental organizations claim that the separatist government of Transnistria is authoritarian and has a poor human rights record, accusing it of interference with religious freedom and of arbitrary arrest and torture. In the best-known such case, Ilie Ilaşcu, a politician in favour of Moldovan union with Romania, was sentenced to death by Transnistria but released in 2001 amid international pressure.

It is also alleged that the trafficking of women is a serious problem, although Transnistria denies this, pointing to a lack of solid evidence.

Transnistrian local authorities put obstructions to public mother tongue education for ethnic Moldovans in the Latin script, insisting that any public educational institutions teaching the language use the official Cyrillic alphabet. In the summer of 2004, this issue sparked into yet another political conflict between Chisinau and Tiraspol.

See also:

• Russification
• Anti-Romanian discrimination
• Moldovan schools in Transnistria

International relations

Ukraine-Transnistria border customs dispute

Main article: Ukraine-Transnistria border customs dispute

On March 3, 2006, Ukraine imposed new customs regulations on its border with Transnistria: Ukraine declared it will only import goods from Transnistria with documents processed by Moldovan customs offices, as part of the implementation of the joint customs protocol between Ukraine and Moldova on December 30, 2005. Transnistria and Russia termed the act "economic blockade". Moldova denies this being described as blockade, claiming it created favorable conditions for registration of Transnistria-based businesses: to obtain a 6-month export license is a half-hour simplified procedure.

Of major mediators of the conflict in the region, the United States, the European Union and OSCE approved the Ukrainian move, while Russia sees it as a means of political pressure and claims that "Russia's interests are directly affected" as well.

On March 4, Tiraspol retaliated by blocking the Moldovan and Ukrainian transport at the borders of Transnistria. The block was lifted on March 18.

Population

At the census of 1989, the population was 679,000. At the time of the 2004 census, the population was 555,347."

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

Ethnicity

Throughout most of its modern history, Transnistria was home to three major groups, roughly equal in numbers: Russians and Ukrainians as well as a Moldovan plurality. In the latter half of the 20th century, the ethnic proportions have changed in large measure due to industrialization and the immigration of Russian and Ukrainian workers, encouraged by the Soviets. The trend continued after 1991, too, as the Moldovan population decreased between 1989 and 2004 from 39% to 32% of the total population. However, the Moldovans are still the largest single group of the region.

1989 census

• Total population: 679,000
• Total population on the left bank of the Dniester river (minus Tighina): 546,400
• Total population in districts mostly on the left bank of the Dniester river (minus Tighina): 601,660
• (note that percentages below are given from the last figure)
• Moldovans: 39.9%
• Ukrainians: 28.3%
• Russians: 25.5%
• Others: 6.4%

File:Transnistria ethnicity.jpg

Ethnicity map, based on data released by Transnistrian authorities

2004 census

• Total population (including Tighina): 555,347 (percentages below refer to this first figure)
• Total population (minus Tighina): 450,337

• Moldovans: 31.9%
• Russians: 30.4%
• Ukrainians: 28.8%
• Bulgarians: 2.5%
• Gagauz: 0.7%
• Belarusians: 0.7%
• Germans: 0.4%

Economy

After WWII, Transnistria was heavily industrialized, to the point that in 1990, it was responsible for 40% of Moldova's GDP and 90% of its electricity, despite the fact that it accounted for only 17% of Moldova's population.

The GDP (2005) is about $420 million. GDP per capita, based on the exchange rate, is $756, which is slightly higher than Moldova, the poorest country in Europe.

The region has a number of factories, although some only possess older technology. One is a munitions factory in Tighina (Bender) while another important steel factory exists in Rîbniţa (Rybnitsa). The factory in Rîbniţa is bringing 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. Sheriff owns a chain of supermarkets, a chain of petrol stations, a TV channel, the FC Sheriff Tiraspol football team and its newly constructed stadium.

Crime

According to the government of Moldova, the EU, and various NGO's, Transistria has been a haven for the smuggling of various products to the Republic and Moldova, or to eastern states through the Ukrainian border. The administration of the PMR has denied any such allegations and has instead given proof of involvement by Moldovan police in drug smuggling. In May 2006 a Moldovan police officer was arrested in Transnistria for his role in a drug operation. The government of Ukraine, which had long been seen as assisting in this illegal trade, has recently taken steps to prevent smuggling along its border by opening new customs posts and by stipulating that the goods passing from Transnistria through Ukraine must first obtain clearance from Moldovan authorities.

Various analysts have also identified the dangers presented by the region due to its large deposits of weapons and the potential of their sale across the black market. Recently, a cache of surface-to-air missile launchers as well as other weapons disappeared from a former Soviet stockpile and officials are unable to account for their whereabouts.

Administrative regions

Russian names are listed in parentheses.

• Camenca (Каменка), also Kamenka
• Dubăsari (Дубоссары), also Dubossary
• Grigoriopol (Григориополь)
• Rîbniţa (Рыбница), also Rybnitsa
• Slobozia (Слободзея)
• Tiraspol (Тирасполь)
• Tighina (Бендеры), also Bender or Bendery

External links

• Profile of Trans-Dniester from the BBC
• OSCE Mission to Moldova
• Collective Fischka photo reportage on Transnistria
• Analyse of Transnistrian site (Pridnestrovie.ne | Tiraspol Times | visitpmr.com) Radio Free Europe

Transnistrian side

• PMR Presidential website
• Pridnestrovie.net
• VisitPMR.com
• The Tiraspol Times & Weekly Review, English-language Transnistrian periodical

Moldovan side

• Moldova Azi: News from Moldova
• Moldova.org non-governmental country portal