Transnistria

For other uses, see Transnistria (disambiguation).

Pridnestrovskaya Moldavskaya Respublika
Trans-Dniester Moldovan Republic

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
Independence Date Recognition	From Moldova September 2, 1990 Not recognized
Area  • Water (%)	4,163 km²  1,607 sq mi 2.35%
Population	555,347 (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 Pridnestrovie) is a part of the Republic of Moldova in Southeastern Europe which declared its independence in September 2, 1990. Its de facto independence has not been recognized and the sovereignty of Transnistria is an issue of contention.

Names

Main article: Names for Transnistria

Although most commonly known in English as Transnistria, its official name is Pridnestróvskaia Moldávskaia Respública (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

Transnistria has a multi-party system and an unicameral parliament named Transnistrian Supreme Soviet. Its legislature has 43 members elected by proportional representation. The president is elected to a five year term by popular vote. In the latest parliamentary election in December 2005, the opposition party Renewal won an overall majority and its leader Yevgeni Shevchuk became speaker of parliament; 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. Western organizations, such as the OSCE, have declared that no democratic elections can take place in Transnistria under the present circumstances and have refused to even monitor them. Some parties and publications were banned.

The People's Power Party, led by Supreme Soviet member Alexander Radchenko, was banned in May 2001; after an appeal the ban was lifted but was reintroduced in December 2001, again the ban was lifted to be reintroduced in August 2002 and confirmed by the "Supreme Court" in December 2002..

"Power to the People" Party led by Nicolae Butchetsky was banned in February 2002 .

On November 14, 2001, the Transnistrian customs service banned the distribution of the publication "Glas Naroda", as it contained Radchenko's electoral platform. Radchenko said in a press conference that "Glas Naroda" has been published outside Transnistria because all the printing houses had refused to print it after having discussed the issue with representatives of the Ministry of State Security .

Election results are suspicious, as in 2001 in one region it was reported that Kamchatka-raised former metalworker Igor Smirnov collected 103.6% of the votes. Nevertheless, some organizations, such as CIS-EMO, have participated and have called them democratic.

See also:

• List of political parties in Transnistria

2006 referendum

Main article: Transnistrian referendum, 2006

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?

According to Transnistrian government 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.

The OSCE and many countries refused to recognize the referendum or its results, dismissing the poll as illegitimate.

History

Main article: History of Transnistria

The area where Transnistria is now located has been inhabited by Indo-European tribes for millenia, being a borderland between Dacia and Scythia. The Ancient Greek Miletians founded about 600 BC a colony named Tyras, situated on the mouth of the Dniester river (Tyras) near today's Tiraspol. In the early Middle Ages, Transnistria was populated by Romanian and Slavic tribes of Bolohoveni, Ulichs and Tivertsy and Turkic nomads. It was part of Kievan Rus' at times. It became a formal part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 15th century. Afterwards was under the rule of Crimean Khanate, a vasal state of Ottoman Empire, and the population was composed by Moldovans and Tatars. In 1792 the region was ceded by the Ottoman to the Russian Empire as a result of sixth Russo-Turkish War. Until the Russian Revolution, the current Transnistria was divided between imperial guberniyas of Podolia, Kherson, and Bessarabia.

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

Transnistria as an autonomous political entity first appeared in 1924, with the proclamation of the Moldavian ASSR, which included today's Transnistria as well as part of modern-day Ukraine area around the city of Balta.

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 Dubăsari. 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 Tighina. 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 Varniţa, at Cocieri-Dubăsari and Coşniţa-Doroţcaia 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 Transnistrian 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 for the settlement of the conflict between Transnistria and Moldova.

See also:

• War of Transnistria

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, Roghi and Vasilievca. The village of Corjova (birthplace of Moldavian president Vladimir Voronin) is divided between a Transnistrian controlled area and a Republic of Moldova controlled area.

In 2005 Transnistrian forces entered the village of Vasilievca, which is located over the strategic road linking Tiraspol and Rîbniţa, but withdrew after a few days

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.

Transnistrian government claim also the village of Varniţa, a suburb of Tighina, but the Republic of Molodva has de facto control in Varniţa.

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, and three other politicians in favour of Moldovan union with Romania, were sentenced by Transnistria. Ilaşcu was released in 2001 amid international pressure, but other members of his group remain to this day imprisoned.

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

Acording to OSCE the media climate in Transnistria is restrictive. Authorities silence independent opposition voices and movements.

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 due to economic hardships and uncertain political situation. This is one of the reasons why a disproportionately large part of the population is past the age of retirement.

Region	1989 census	2004 census
Total population	679,000	555,347
Left bank only, without Tighina	546,400	450,337
Mostly Left bank raions, excluding Tighina	601,660	-

File:Transnistria ethnicity.jpg

Ethnicity map, based on data released by Transnistrian authorities

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.

Ethnicity	1936 census	1989 census	2004 census
Moldovans	41.8%	39.9%	31.9%
Ukrainians	28.7%	28.3%	28.8%
Russians	14.2%	25.5%	30.4%
Jews	7.9%	6.4%
Bulgarians	7.4%		2.5%
Gagauz:			0.7%
Belarusians			0.7%
Germans			0.4%
Others			4.6%

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 lower than Moldova, the poorest country in Europe.

Transnistria has a number of factories, although some only possess older technology. Its largest company is a steel factory, based in Rîbniţa (Rybnitsa), which brings in about 50% of the republic's revenue and is the main provider of jobs in that city.

Another exporter is the distillery Kvint of Tiraspol, known 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

Smuggling

Transnistria has a reputation of being a heaven for smuggling weapons, women, as well and as smuggling various products into the Republic of Moldova or to eastern states through the Ukrainian border. This view is supported by the Moldovan government, the EU and various NGOs. In 2002, the European Parliament's delegation to Moldova named Transnistria "a black hole in which illegal trade in arms, the trafficking in human beings and the laundering of criminal finance was carried on". In 2005, The Wall Street Journal called Transnistria "a major haven for smuggling weapons and women". However, OSCE and European Union diplomats cited by Radio Free Europe called the smuggling claims "wildly exaggerated".

The Transnistrian government also deny any such allegations and has instead claimed that the Moldovan police is involved 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.

Weapons trade and domestic terrorism

Analysts have also identified the dangers presented by the region due to its large deposits of weapons and the potential of their unauthorized sale. However, foreign experts working on behalf of the United Nations confirm that there is currently transparency and good levels of co-operation with Transnistria in the field of weapons control. A 2004 newspaper article claimed that a cache of surface-to-air missile launchers as well as other weapons may have disappeared from a former Soviet stockpile and that officials were at the time unable to account for their whereabouts. The OSCE and European Union officials state that there is no evidence that Transnistria has ever, at any time in the past, trafficked arms or nuclear material, although they pointed out that a lack of evidence does not mean that smuggling does not take place.

The latest research published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) indicates that Transnistria is not involved in arms production or trafficking. It states that evidence for the illicit production and trafficking of weapons into and from Transnistria has in the past been exaggerated, and affirms that although there is a likelihood that trafficking of light weapons could have occurred before 2001, there is no reliable evidence that this still occurs. It also states that the same holds true for the production of such weapons, which is likely to have been carried out in the 1990s primarily to equip the local law enforcement but which are no longer produced. These findings echo previous declarations by Transnistria that it is not involved in the manufacture or export of weapons.

There has been some domestic terrorism in Transnistria:

• in May 2004, there was an attempt by a Russian neo-Nazi organization to set on fire a synagogue in Tiraspol, using a Molotov Cocktail and a flammable liquid near a gas pipe.
• in July 2006, a bomb killed eight in a Tiraspol minibus.

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 OSCE
• Transdniester in Cyberspace Radio Free Europe
• Disinformation The Economist

Transnistrian side

• PMR Presidential website
• Pridnestrovie.net (Official English site)
• VisitPMR.com (Official tourist information)

Moldovan side

• Moldova Azi: News from Moldova
• Moldova.org non-governmental country portal
• Transnistrian Conflict
• Transnistria.md