Transnistria

For the region during the Second World War, see Transnistria (World War II).

Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic Република Молдовеняскэ Нистрянэ Republica Moldovenească Nistreană Приднестровская Молдавская Республика Pridnestrovskaya Moldavskaya Respublika Придністровська Молдавська Республіка Pridnistrovs'ka Moldavs'ka Respublika
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Anthem of Transnistria
Capital and largest city	Tiraspol
Official languages	Moldovan, Russian, Ukrainian
Government	Semi-presidential
• President	Igor Smirnov
Independence  from Moldova
• Declared	September 2 1990
• Recognition	unrecognized
• Water (%)	2.35
Population
• 2005 estimate	555,000 (166)
• 2004 census	555,347
Currency	Transnistrian ruble (PRB)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Calling code	373 5 +373 2
Internet TLD	none1
1 .ru and .md sometimes used.

Transnistria (also Pridnestrovie) is a de facto independent republic within the internationally recognized borders of Moldova in Eastern Europe. Transnistria declared independence on September 2, 1990 (as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic) and subsequent to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 has exercised de facto control over most of the Transnistria region, located between the Dniester River and Ukraine. The capital city is Tiraspol.

Transnistria fought a war for independence in 1992 and is seeking recognition as an independent state. Its independence has not been recognized, and its legal status continues to be an issue of contention. It functions as a sovereign country with its own postal system and stamps, police, military, currency, constitution, flag, national anthem, coat of arms, and has its own parliament and government.

Names

Main article: Names for Transnistria

Most commonly known in English as Transnistria (as it is also called in Romanian, the language of Moldova), its constitutional long name is Pridnestróvskaia Moldávskaia Respública (Moldovan: Република Молдовеняскэ Нистрянэ, Russian: Приднестровская Молдавская Республика, Ukrainian: Придністровська Молдавська Республіка, ПМР). This is abbreviated PMR.

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

Several other names are also in common use. Etymologically, they all come down to similar spelling variants of Transnistria, meaning "beyond the river Dniester", or Pridnestrovie, meaning "by the river Dniester".

Geography

Transnistria is landlocked and borders Bessarabia (for 411 km) to the West and Ukraine (for 405 km) to the East. It is a narrow valley stretched in the North-South direction along the banks of the Dniester River, which forms the natural boundary along the most part of the border with Moldova. Nevertheless, not all PMR territory lies in Transnistria, and some locations on the left bank of the Dniester are controlled by the Moldovan government. Tighina (Bender) and its surrounding area on the river's west bank is controlled by Transnistria, while some villages near Dubăsari on the east bank are under Moldovan control.

Tiraspol, the capital, is Transnistria's largest city with 159,163 inhabitants.

See also:

• List of places in Transnistria

Administrative regions

Transnistria is divided into seven administrative regions (raions). Russian names are listed in parentheses:

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

Political status

Main article: Disputed status of Transnistria

Transnistria is internationally recognised as being a legal part of the Republic of Moldova, although de facto control is exercised by its internationally unrecognised government which declared independence from Moldova as the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica or Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), in 1990 with Tiraspol as its declared capital. Prior to unification with Moldova in 1940, Tiraspol was the capital of MASSR, an autonomous republic which existed from 1924 to 1940.

Although exercising no direct control over the territory, the Moldovan government passed the "Law on Basic Provisions of the Special Legal Status of Localities from the Left Bank of the Dniester" on July 22, 2005, which established an autonomous territorial unit in Transnistria within the Republic of Moldova. The law was passed without any prior consultation with Transnistria, whose government felt that it was a provocation and has since ignored it. There are unsettled border issues between the PMR and Moldova. Some villages from the Dubăsari district, including Cocieri and Doroţcaia which geographically belong to Transnistria, 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 Varniţa and Copanca, near Tighina, are claimed by the PMR. Tense situations have periodically surfaced due to these territorial disputes, for example in 2005, when Transnistrian forces entered Vasilievca, in 2006 around Varniţa, and in 2007 in Dubăsari-Cocieri area, when a confrontation between Moldovan and Transnistrian forces occurred, however without any casualties.

Internal politics

Main article: Politics of Transnistria

The Transnistrian parliament building in Tiraspol. In front is a statue of Lenin

Tiraspol city hall

Transnistria has a multi-party system and a unicameral parliament named the Supreme Council. Its legislature has 43 members elected by proportional representation. The president is elected to a five year term by popular vote.

Igor Smirnov has been the President of Transnistria since the declaration of independence in 1990 and he is currently serving his fourth mandate after being reelected in December 2006.

In the latest parliamentary election in December 2005, the opposition Renewal movement won an overall majority and its leader Yevgeni Shevchuk became speaker of parliament.

There is disagreement as to whether elections in Transnistria are free and fair. A list published by the European Union bans travel to the EU of some members of the leadership of Transnistria. The EU imposed this restriction because of what it considers "insufficient cooperation in the Transnistrian conflict settlement process.". Following the resolution of a key dispute, the ban has been lifted on education officials.

No opposition parties or publications are banned. Political candidates in favor of unification with Moldova are allowed to stand in elections, although they rarely achieve more than 5% of the votes from the electorate. Likewise, unionist political parties and newspapers are legally registered and operating freely.

Despite some efforts to enhance the democratic process in recent years election results in the past were considered suspicious, as in 2001 in one region it was reported that Igor Smirnov collected 103.6% of the votes. Nevertheless, some organizations, such as CIS-EMO, have participated and have called them democratic.

Transnistria has acceded to international pressure and has announced that it will introduce the proportional representation vote counting system in its next elections in replacement of its current first past the post system. The move, if honoured, will give minority parties favouring reunification with Moldova a greater number of seats in the parliament.

See also:

• List of political parties in Transnistria

2006 independence referendum

A referendum was held on 17 September 2006 asking voters:

1. Do you support the course towards the independence of the PMR and 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 the 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. Russia's Duma recognized the vote but the OSCE and many countries did not, dismissing the poll as illegitimate.

Main article: Transnistrian referendum, 2006

International relations

Ukraine-Transnistria border customs dispute

Main article: Ukraine-Transnistria border customs conflict

On March 3, 2006, Ukraine introduced 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 an "economic blockade". Moldova announced that it created favorable conditions for registration of Transnistria-based businesses: to obtain a 6-month export license is a half-hour simplified procedure.

The United States, the European Union and OSCE approved the Ukrainian move, while Russia saw it as a means of political pressure.

On March 4, Transnistria responded by blocking the Moldovan and Ukrainian transport at the borders of Transnistria. The Transnistrian block was lifted after two weeks. However, the Moldovan/Ukrainian block remains in place, and holds up progress in status settlement negotiations between the sides.

In the months following the regulations, exports from Transnistria nosedived. Transnistria declared a "humaniatarian catastrophe" in the region, while Moldova called it "deliberate misinformation". Cargos of humanitarian aid were sent from Russia and from NGOs in the United States and the European Union in response.

History

Main article: History of Transnistria

Antiquity and Middle Ages

The area where Transnistria is now located has been inhabited by Indo-European tribes for millennia, 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).

Transnistria was home to the South Slavs from the 6th century. In the early Middle Ages, Slavic tribes such as the Tivertsi and the Ulichs populated Transnistria, followed by Turkic nomads such as the Petchenegs and Cumans. An early part of Kievan Rus', after the Mongol invasion of Europe (1241), the territory was briefly under Mongol control, and later under the Crimean Khanate. From the 15th century, northern Transnistria belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Prior to becoming part of the Russian Empire, the largest group living between the Dniester and the Bug rivers was made up of Slavs, primarily Ukrainian peasants.

Russian Empire

The statue of Alexander Suvorov, founder of modern Tiraspol.

In 1792 the region became part of the Russian Empire as a result of sixth Russo-Turkish War. In that year, the general Alexander Suvorov founded modern Tiraspol as a Russian border fortress. Until the Russian Revolution of 1917, the current Transnistria was divided between imperial guberniyas of Podolia, Kherson, and Bessarabia. The territory which now is Transnistria was part of the larger New Russia region, hence it witnessed a strong colonization process, with a multitude of ethnies being settled: lands were given to enserfed peasantry from Russia and Ukraine (see also Nova Serbia), and Jews and Germans were brought to facilitate economic development.

Soviet Union

Main articles: Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and Moldavian SSR

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

Transnistria became an autonomous political entity in 1924 with the proclamation of the Moldavian ASSR, which included today's Transnistria as well as an area around the city of Balta in modern-day Ukraine, but nothing from Bessarabia, which at the time was part of Romania. Another reason for the creation of the Moldavian ASSR was the desire of the Soviet Union at the time to eventually incorporate 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 the Soviet Union in the course of the Second World War, they defeated the Soviet troops in the region and occupied it. By March 1943, a total of 185,000 Ukrainian and Romanian Jews had been deported and the majority died or was murdered under Romanian and German occupation of Transnistria. The Soviet Union regained the area in 1944, and the Soviet colonisation of the region was resumed.

Secession to the present

Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of perestroika in the Soviet Union allowed political liberalisation at a regional level in 1980s. On 2 September 1990, the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed as a Soviet republic by the "Second Congress of the Peoples' Representatives of Transnistria". On 22 December 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader of USSR, signed a decree that declared the decisions of this congress legally void. Nevertheless, neither the USSR, nor Moldova, a Soviet Socialist Republic at the time, took any significant practical action, hence the new authorities in Transnistria slowly got control over the region.

The War of Transnistria followed armed clashes on a limited scale which broke out between Transnistrian separatists and Moldova as early as November 1990 at Dubăsari. On 2 March 1992, Moldova began concerted military action against Transnistria. Throughout 1992 the fighting intensified until a ceasefire was signed on 21 July 1992 which has held ever since. The war left more than one thousand dead, many more wounded, and an estimated 100,000 refugees.

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 the "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 November 2003, Dmitry Kozak, a counselor of the 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 the Transnistrian position, which sought equal status between Transnistria and Moldova, but Transnistria nevertheless agreed to sign it. Vladimir Voronin was initially supportive of the plan, but refused to sign it after Russia had endorsed the Transnistrian demand to maintain a Russian military presence for the next 20 years as a guarantee for the intended federation, as well as due to pressure from the OSCE and US. The refusal by the Moldovan side resulted in the sudden and long-term cooling of relations between Moldova and Russia, and halted further progress in the settlement negotiations.

Population

File:Transnistria ethnicity.jpg

Ethnicity map, based on data released by Transnistrian authorities

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. A large part of the population is past the age of retirement.

64.2% of the population are Slavs (30.4% ethnic Russians and 28.8% Ukrainians, with 5% among minorities of Bulgarians, Belorusians and Poles), making up an absolute majority. Ethnic Moldovans compose the single largest minority with 31.9%. Smaller numbers of Germans, Jews, Gagauz and others make up the rest, totaling 3.9%.

Moldova does not include demographic statistics from Transnistria as part of Moldova's overall statistical publications.

See also:

• Demographic history of Transnistria
• 2004 Census in Transnistria

Religion

Most Transnistrians are Orthodox Christians and the government has supported restoration and new construction of orthodox churches. Transnistria has freedom of religion and 114 religious beliefs and congregations are officially registered. However, as of 2005, registration hurdles were encountered by some minor religious groups, notably, the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Economy

File:Transnistria rubla.jpg

The Transnistrian ruble shows Alexander Suvorov, founder of modern Tiraspol.

Transnistria has a mixed economy. Following a large scale privatization process, most of the companies in Transnistria are now privately owned. The economy bases on a mix of heavy industry (steel production), electricity production and manufacturing (textile production), which together accounts about 80% of the total industrial output.

Transnistria has its own central bank, which issues Transnistrian currency, the Transnistrian ruble. It is convertible at a freely floating exchange rate.

History of the economic development

After World War II, Transnistria was heavily industrialised, 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. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Transnistria wanted to return to a "Brezhnev-style planned economy", however, several years later, it decided to head toward a market economy.

Current situation

Macroeconomics

In 2005, the GDP of Transnistria was about $517.5 million and the GDP per capita was $844. The GDP increased 11.8% and inflation rate was 10.8%. However, in the first half of 2006 Transnistrian economy decreased 11.5% compared with the same period of 2005. The industrial production decreased even 32.8%.

Transnistria's government budget for 2007 is US$246 million, with an estimated deficit of approximately US$100 million which the government plans to cover with income from privatizations.

Transnistria has debt of $1.2 billion (two thirds of which are with Russia), which is per capita approximately 6 times higher than in Moldova (without Transnistria).

External trade

In 2005, Transnistria's trade export was $579.7 million and import $855.6 million. The trade deficit reached $275.9 million. In the first half of 2006 Transnistrian export decreased 49.0% and import decreased 15.9%. Over 50% of export goes to the CIS, mainly to Russia. The main exports are steel, cognac and wine, textile and mineral products. The CIS accounts for over 60% of the imports, while the share of the EU is about 23%. The main imports are non-precious metals, food products and electricity.

Economic sectors

The leading industry is steel, due to the MMZ steel factory (part of the Russian Metalloinvest holding) in Rîbniţa (Rybnitsa), which accounts for about 50% of the budget revenue of Transnistria. The largest company in the textile industry is Tirotex, which claimed to be the second largest textile company in Europe. The energy sector is dominated by the Russian companies. The largest power company Moldavskaya GRES (Cuchurgan power station), which is located in Dnestrovsk, is owned by Inter RAO UES, the joint subsidiary of RAO UES and Rosenergoatom, and the gas transmission and distribution company Tiraspoltransgas is probably controlled by Gazprom, although Gazprom has not confirmed the ownership officially. The banking sector of Transnistria consists 8 commercial banks, including Gazprombank. The oldest alcohol producer Kvint, located in Tiraspol, produces and exports brandy, wines and vodka.

Human rights

Main article: Human rights in Transnistria

The human rights record of Transnistria has been criticised by several governments and international organizations. The 2007 Freedom in the World report, published by the US-based Freedom House, described Transnistria as a "non-free" territory, having an equally bad situation in both political rights and civil liberties.

The United States State Department stated that the right of Transnistrians to change their government was restricted; however, in December 2005 the opposition party Renewal won Transnistria's parliamentary elections and took control of parliament. The State Department also claims that authorities harass and detain persons suspected of being critical of the government, and reported one such example during 2006.[...] and also that authorities harass independent media and opposition lawmakers, restrict freedom of association and of religion, and discriminate against Romanian speakers, although to a lesser extent than in previous years.[...]U.S. Department of State referring to year 2006

According to OSCE, the media climate in Transnistria is restrictive and the authorities continue a long-standing campaign to silence independent opposition voices and groups.

Public education for ethnic Moldovans in the Moldovan language is taught in Moldovan Cyrillic, but in July 2005, under an OSCE-negotiated formula, Transnistrian authorities allowed Latin script schools in the region. In the summer of 2004, four schools were closed for failure to register locally. The schools have since reopened.

Ilie Ilaşcu was convicted in 1993 of killing two Transnistrian officials and initially sentenced to death by Transnistria's Supreme Court. Three other members of his group were sentenced to terms of 12 to 15 years’ imprisonment, and confiscation of their property. Ilaşcu was released in 2001, but two of the original four remain imprisoned until June 2007. In 1999, Transnistria banned the death penalty for all crimes. The maximum sentence for any crime is now 25 years in prison.

The OSCE mission to Moldova has urged local authorities in the Transnistrian city of Rybnitsa to return a confiscated building to the Moldovan Latin-script school located in the city. The unfinished building was nearing completion in 2004, when Transnistria took control of it during that year's school crisis.

According to the Moldavian and Romanian presses, in February 2007, Transnistrian authorities destroyed and profaned the Dragalina cemetery in Tighina (also known as The Romanian cemetery), thus violating the Geneva Convention. The Transnistrian authorities did not exhume the bodies; they only removed the crosses and leveled the terrain with bulldozers. According to the Romanian edition of Deutsche Welle, the Transnistrian authorities announced that the crosses would be smashed up with explosives, mixed with asphalt, and used to repair the roads of the city. However, according to PMR News, the authorities in Transnistria are to re-bury the exhumed soldiers outside of the city and they have taken steps to ensure that the identities of exhumed soldiers are not lost. 319 identified Romanian and 14 unidentified soldiers, as well as 13 Soviet prisoners were buried at this cemetery.

See also:

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

Crime

Main article: Crime in Transnistria

Arms control and disarmament

Following the collapse of the former Soviet Union the Russian 14th Army left behind 40,000 tonnes of weapony and ammunition. In the subsequent years there were concerns that the Transnistrian Authorities may try to sell these stocks internationally and intense pressure was applied to have have these removed by the Russian Federation.

In 2000 and 2001, the Russian Federation withdrew by rail 141 self-propelled artillery and other armoured vehicles and destroyed locally 108 T-64 tanks and 139 other pieces of military equipment limited by the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE). During 2002 and 2003 Russian military officials destroyed a further 51 armoured vehicles, all of which were types not limited by the CFE Treaty. The OSCE also observed and verified the withdrawal of 11 trains with military equipment and 37 trains loaded with more than 22,000 tons of ammunition. However, no further withdrawal activities have taken place since March 2004 and a further 20,000 tons of ammunition, as well as some remaining military equipment are still to be removed.

In the Autumn od 2006 the Transnistria leadership agreed to an OSCE inspectorate examine the munitions and further access agreed moving forward. The onus of responsibility rests on the Russian Federation to remove the remainder of the supplies.

Analysts have expressed concern regarding potential threats posed by this large deposit of weapons, and the potential of their unauthorized sale. Nevertheless, this view has been challenged by other experts and organizations, as well as by the government of the PMR. Oxford scholar Mark Almond stated that accusations of state-sponsored weapons smuggling in the PMR appear to be groundless and politically motivated, rather than based on any verified facts. 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. Recent weapons inspections permitted by Transnistria and conducted by the OSCE reflect this transparency and co-operation

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. The latest research published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) indicates that Transnistria is not involved in arms production or trafficking. The United Nations says that the evidence for the illicit production and trafficking of weapons into and from Transnistria has in the past been exaggerated, and affirms that although the trafficking of light weapons is likely to have occurred before 2001 (the last year when export data showed US$ 900,000 worth of ‘weapons, munitions, their parts and accessories’ exported from Transnistria. However, it is also possible that these exports included old weapons from former Soviet stocks, withdrawal of Russian ammunition or the export of weapon parts, rather than newly produced goods), and there is no reliable evidence that this still occurs. The report 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 forces 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.

The situation has been summed up by OSCE mission spokesman Claus Neukirch who cautioned: "There is often talk about sale of armaments from Transnistria, but there is no convincing evidence."

Antisemitic incidents

Since 2001, there have been three isolated antisemitic incidents in Transnistria.

• 14-15 April 2001 During the night, three neo-Nazi skinheads placed a homemade pipe bomb near one of the synagogue windows in Tiraspol. The building was damaged, but the guard was not hurt. Transnistria charged the three perpetrators with illegal weapons possession and with inciting ethnic hatred, and sentenced them to prison for their involvement. One is currently serving a six year sentence, while two others received three years each.
• 13-30 March 2004 Over 70 tombstones in the Jewish cemetery of Tiraspol were vandalized Although unnamed community leaders were initially reported as claiming that the authorities had not helped clean up anti-Semitic graffiti painted on the tombstones, this was later shown to be untrue when the local rabbi provided photos of Tiraspol's authorities assisting in the restoration effort.
• 4 May 2004 Vandals failed in an attempt to set fire to the synagogue in Tiraspol, placing a Molotov Cocktail and flammable liquid near its door. No damage was done, and passers-by extinguished the fire. Transnistria's authorities believed the same neo-Nazi group to be behind the attempt, and announced initiation of investigations.

Deadly explosions

• In July 2006, a bomb killed eight in a Tiraspol minibus.
• In August 2006, a grenade explosion in a Tiraspol trolleybus killed two and injured ten.

External links

• Profile of Trans-Dniester from the BBC
• OSCE Mission to Moldova OSCE
• Transdniester Conflict Was Long In The Making Radio Free Europe
• "Places that don't exist: Transnistria" - BBC video documentary.

Transnistrian sources

• Pridnestrovie.net (Official English site)
• VisitPMR.com (Official tourist information)
• Website of the Transnistrian Parliament (Supreme Council) (Official site)
• The Tiraspol Times & Weekly Review (English language news from Transnistria)

Moldovan sources

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