Transnistria

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

Trans-Dniester Moldovan Republic Република Молдовеняскэ Нистрянэ Pridnestrovskaya Moldavskaya Respublika
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Anthem of Transnistria
Capital and largest city	Tiraspol
Official languages	Russian, Ukrainian, Moldovan
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 (TR)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Calling code	373 5 +373 2
Internet TLD	none2
1 Used by central government. 2 .ru and .md sometimes used.

Transnistria (Pridnestrovie, per the PMR constitution) is a territory within the internationally recognized boundaries of the Republic of Moldova in eastern Europe. Transnistria declared its independence as a separate republic of the U.S.S.R. on September 2, 1990. Subsequent to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic (PMR) has exercised de facto control over most of Transnistria. Its independence has not been recognized, and sovereignty over Transnistria continues to be 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) 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".

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. 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.

See also: List of places in Transnistria

Political status

Main article: Disputed status of Transnistria

Transnistria is internationally considered to be part of the Republic of Moldova, although de facto control is exercised by a local separatist administration that declared independence from Moldova as the Pridnestrovskaya Moldavskaya Respublika or Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), with Tiraspol as its capital. Although exercising marginal 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 with the right to conduct economic, scientific, and humanitarian activities independent of the central government.

There are unsettled border issues with conflicting claims on both sides.

Internal politics

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

Monument including a Soviet tank in Tiraspol

The capital of Transnistria is Tiraspol, its largest city. In the central square of Tiraspol there is a Soviet tank, situated in front of the building of the Supreme Soviet, and a statue of Lenin.

There is disagreement as to whether elections in Transnistria are free and fair. Western countries and organizations, such as the OSCE, have declared that no democratic elections can take place in Transnistria under the present circumstances and have refused to recognize or monitor them. Some parties and publications were banned. Some radio and TV frequencies from Moldova and Ukraine are jammed.

Transnistria has a multi-party system and a 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.

A list published by the European Union indicates that a majority of the leadership were not born in Transnistria These leaders are banned from traveling to the EU. Most of the members of parliament are not native-born Transnistrians either.

According to official PMR data, only 15 members of the parliament out of 43 were born on the territory of Transnistria (12 in Transnistria proper, 3 in Basarabian area of Bender-Chiţcani which is controlled by Transnistria), 4 were born in Basarabia, part never claimed by Transnistria, 9 were born in the Russian Federation, 8 in Ukraine, 2 in Kazakhstan, 1 in Germany, 1 in Belarus, and 3 did not declare it.

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 Butchatsky was banned in February 2002.

On November 14, 2001, the Transnistrian customs service banned the distribution or 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.

Igor Smirnov has been the president of Transnistria since the declaration of independence in 1991 and he is currently serving his fourth mandate after being reelected in December 2006.

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 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.

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 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, the Tivertsy (Slavs), and the Vlachs are mentioned as living in Transnistria. Turkic nomads such as the Petchenegs and Cumans were present in 11th-13th centuries, having controlled the territory especially from the military point of view (see Cumania). Following the Mongol invasion of Europe (1241), for a period of time, the territory was under Mongol control, and later under the Crimean Khanate, one of the five successors of the Golden Horde Empire. Genoese traders opened colonies on the shore of the Dniester around 1300, having to pay tribute for that to the Tatars. From the 15th century, parts of what today consists Transnistria was briefly ceded by the Tatars to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, when they were called Dykra. The territory was conquered by the Ottoman Empire around 1700 , becoming part of the Yedisan province. By that time the population was composed of 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. The territories which now consist the breakaway republic, were 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.

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

Russian Empire and the Moldovan ASSR

Nonetheless, by the beginning of the 20th century, the vast majority of the inhabitants was constituted by ethnic Romanians (Moldovans) (See also). 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.

Moldovan SSR

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 cut off the Soviet troops around Odessa along the river Southern Bug, then advanced over the Dniester river and occupied the region. 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, and the Soviet colonisation of the region was resumed.

Secession to the Present

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". 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 Tiraspol slowly got control over the region.

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 Dniester, 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 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, Russia has proposed another memorandum, which contained the most detailed to date proposition on the creation of an asymmetric federal Moldovan state. To ensure the implementation of this plan, Russian troops were proposed to be stationed in Moldova for another 20 years [8]. This plan was named "the Kozak memorandum", after its author Dmitry Kozak, a counselor of the Russian president Vladimir Putin. It did not coincide with the Transnistrian position, which demanded equal status for Transnistria and the rest of Moldova. In Moldova, demonstrations took place against the memorandum, when its full text was made public.

Vladimir Voronin, who before its publication was supportive of the plan, refused to sign it without the coordination of OSCE and UE. It is widely believed, although supported only by circumstantial evidence, that this reaction appeared after a high official of the US government phoned Voronin. Putin's official visit to Moldova, that was due within days, was immediately canceled, and the Maastricht union of OSCE in 2003 was deadlocked mainly because of Russian-Western disputes over the Transnistrian issue. The formal refusal of Voronin was motivated as follows: the stationing of foreign troops on Moldovan soil contradicts the state's neutrality stipulated by the Constitution of Moldova. The refusal resulted in the sudden and long-term cooling of relations between Moldova and Russia.

In May 2005, the Ukrainian government of Viktor Yushchenko proposed a seven-point plan for the settlement of the conflict between Transnistria and Moldova.

Human rights

Main article: Human rights in Transnistria

Critics claim that the PMR government 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 Transnistrian authority. The other three politicians were sentenced to terms of 12 to 15 years’ imprisonment with confiscation of their property. 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.

According to OSCE the media climate in Transnistria is restrictive. Authorities continue long-standing campaign to 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 Soviet-originated Cyrillic alphabet. In the summer of 2004, this issue sparked into yet another political conflict between Chisinau and Tiraspol.

Several crimes made by paramilitarry forces of transnistrian government remained uninvestigated. According Helsinki Comitee for Human Rights in the Republic of Moldova, only in the village Chiţcani, between 1996 and 2000 were registered 20 killed persons, but nobody was engaged in investigation of those crimes, as Moldova declares that has no access, and the transnistrian authorities does not wish it to make investigations.

In November 2006 the European Court of Human Rights has accepted to examine the claims submitted by 3 Moldovan schools in Transnistria (from Tighina, Rîbniţa and Grigoriopol) regarding the violation of their right to education and right to work in condition of non-discrimination. The 3 schools concerned regard Russia and Moldova as responsible for violation of their rights.

In November 2006, Luis O'Neill, head of OSCE mission to Moldova, has urged local authorities in the Transnistrian city of Rîbniţa to return a confiscated building to the Moldovan Latin-script school located in the city. The building was built by the Government from Chişinău and was almost finished in 2004, when Transnistrian militsya took it by force, during the school crisis.

See also:

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

International relations

Ukraine-Transnistria border customs dispute

Main article: Ukraine-Transnistria border customs conflict

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.

See also:

• Media in Transnistria

Population

At the census of 1989, the population was 679,000. At the time of the 2004 census, the population was 555,347." About 100,000 Transnistrians are also citizens of Russia.

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

Since the Soviet era, Transnistria was home to three major groups: Moldovans forming a plurality alongside Russians and Ukrainians. 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	1926 census	1936 census	1989 census	2004 census
Moldovans	44.1%	41.8%	39.9%	31.9%
Ukrainians	27.2%	28.7%	28.3%	28.8%
Russians	13.7%	14.2%	25.5%	30.4%
Jews	8.2%	7.9%	6.4%
Bulgarians	6.8%	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.

The extreme worsening of economic situaton of ordinary people in Transnistria was in November 2006 the subject of an open letter of one of the founders and ideologists of Transnistrian Republic, author of the first PMR constitution, Vasily Yakovlev. In his letter he is asking penal persecution for PMR president Igor Smirnov and is calling for unity with the working people of Moldova.

Crime

Smuggling

Transnistria has a reputation of being a haven 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 denies 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

Analysts and media outlets have expressed concern regarding potential threats posed by Transnistria's large deposits of weapons, and the potential of their unauthorized sale. Nevertheless, this view has been challanged in/from what year (so that one can see from what year things started to change) 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 say that the historically low levels of transparency, and the continued denial of full investigation to international monitors has reinforced negative perceptions of the Transnistrian regime, although recent good levels of cooperation on the part of Transnitrian authorities in some areas may reflect a shift in the attitude of PMR.

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 dangerous activities are not taking place. Lawlessness in Transdniester alone constitutes a threat to stability. The latest research published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) states that Transnistria is highly militarised, noting that the number of illicit weapons in the region is unknown. 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 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 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.

Violent incidents

Over the past few years, there have been isolated violent incidents in Transnistria. Two of these incidents have been described as a terrorism by Transnistrian government officials including head of Transnistrian MGB Vladimir Antyufeyev but motives behind the incidents are still unclear

• 14-15 April 2001 the Synagogue of Tiraspol suffered a pipe bomb attack. The building was damaged, but the guard was not hurt.
• 13-30 March 2004 over 70 tombstones in the Jewish cemetery of Tiraspol were vandalizedLocal community leaders said the authorities refused to help clean up the anti-Semitic graffiti painted over the tombstones
• 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.The attack failed when passers-by extinguished the fire.
• 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.

Travel warnings

U.S.A Embassy reaction:

the U.S. Embassy urges all U.S. Citizens to exercise additional caution for their travel to or through Transnistria.[...]Throughout Transnistria, drivers should observe caution and avoid confrontations with local authorities.

Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade:

We advise you to exercise caution and monitor developments that might affect your safety in the north-eastern region of Transnistria. The security situation in that region is unpredictable as it is not under government control. Pay close attention to your personal security and monitor the media for information about possible new safety or security risks.

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

Transnistria in popular culture

Transnistria was mentioned in The Game by Neil Strauss. And a spoof of the country was done in an episode of Eurotrash. [9] It was also covered on TV in Simon Reeve's BBC production called Holidays in the Danger Zone: Places That Don't Exist. [10]

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

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

Moldovan side

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