Moldova Marks 30 Years Since War with Russia-Backed Transnistria Rebels

Moldova commemorated those who fought and died in the war with Russian-backed separatist forces that seized control over the eastern region of Transnistria in 1992. Photo: Moldovan President Maia Sandu’s official Facebook.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu said on Wednesday that it is important for future generations to keep alive the memory of those who fell on the battlefield during the Transnistria war in 1992 and for the state not to forget their sacrifice.

“Today, I commemorated those who lost their lives in the war on the Dniester River. An armed conflict that began 30 years ago, aimed at suppressing the independence and territorial integrity of Moldova, and in which we lost hundreds of lives and hundreds more were injured,” Sandu said in a statement.

She signed a decree to create a commemorative medal that will be awarded to Moldovan Army veterans who “fought to defend the integrity and independence of Moldova” in the war against Russian-backed separatists in Transnistria that started on March 2, 1992.

The war against the separatist rebels on the left bank of the Dniester River erupted after Moldova declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Transnistrian militias were backed by Cossack mercenaries and Russian soldiers of the former USSR’s 14th Army.

About 300 Moldovans lost their lives and 370 were injured. A similar number of victims on the Transnistrian side was estimated.

Analysts have said the war was part of a series of attempts from Russia to maintain its influence in former Soviet republics after the collapse of the USSR by encouraging separatist movements.

On August 25, 1991, just two days before Chisinau declared independence, a so-called Declaration of Independence of the separatist region was adopted by the Supreme Soviet in Tiraspol, the capital of the breakaway Transnistrian region.

The following March, the war began. Moldova argues that it fought to protect the country’s territorial integrity, while the Kremlin and the secessionist regime in Tiraspol accused Chisinau of military aggression and persecution of the “Transnistrian people and state”.

Fighting started after the pro-Russian Transnistrian militias attacked a Moldovan police station in Dubasari on the night of March 1, 1992, and killed the officers inside.

Moldovan troops responded by attacking the pro-Russian rebel forces on the left bank of the Dniester River and, in the first phase of the conflict,  defeated them.

However, Russian soldiers from the USSR’s 14th Army then tipped the balance of the conflict against the poorly-armed Moldovan Army.

Moldova suffered a military defeat, and the conditions of peace were dictated by Moscow in the text of a ceasefire agreement on July 21, 1992.

The document was signed by the then presidents of Russia and Moldova, Boris Yeltsin and Mircea Snegur.