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Transnistria conflict

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Politics of Transnistria
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The disputed status of Transnistria arose because of the Transnistrian declaration of independence on Sep. 2, 1990, which is not recognized by Moldova.

Moldova lost control of Transnistria in the 1990 breakup of the Moldavian SSR and the subsequent War of Transnistria, but never formally ceded the territory. Moreover, Transnistria has not been internationally recognised (except by other unrecognised states) and is generally considered to be a part of Moldova.

Transnistria's two main political groups, Republic (Respublika) and Renewal (Obnovleniye) oppose any transfer of sovereignty to Moldova, and no major political party or pressure group in Transnistria supports union with Moldova. However, negotiations under OSCE auspices have been ongoing since 1997 based on the premise that better relations are desirable, and that the restrictions on communications, movement of people, and trade flows must be removed.

Historical status of Transnistria

Although ethnic Romanians have historically made up a large minority of the population, the area was never considered part of a Romanian statal entity. The territory east of the Dniester river belonged to Kievan Rus' and the kingdom of Halych-Volhynia from the ninth to the fourteenth centuries, passing to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and then into the hands of Russia in the eighteenth century. Even with the rise of Romanian nationalism in the nineteenth century, the far reaches of Transylvania were considered the western boundary of the Romanian lands while the Dniester formed the eastern. The national poet Mihai Eminescu, in his famous poem Doina, spoke of a Romania stretching only "from the Dniester to the Tisza" and not farther east. But the actuall relevancy of these more or less poetic views, when related to the history and the modern situation of the ethnic Moldovans, is inexistant, as Moldova is an independent autonomous state and Moldovans are not correlated with modern Romanians (see Moldovenism), even by the Transdniestre regime.

In World War II, when Romania, aided by Nazi Germany, for the first time in history took control of Transnistria there was never any attempt to annex the occupied territory beyond the Dniester for it was generally considered merely a temporary buffer zone between Greater Romania and the Soviet front line. Some argue that Transnistria had never been considered part of Bessarabia, but the relevancy of this view is unknown. Two preeminent political figures of the day, Iuliu Maniu and Constantin Brătianu declared that "the Romanian people will never consent to the continuation of the struggle beyond our national borders.". However, Bratianu and Maniu meant by "national border", the whole land inhabited by Romanians.

The colonisation which begun during Tsarist times, was greatly increased in during the Soviet Union. This lead to a decline of ethnic Moldavians in raport with Russians and Ukrainians, of which numbers continued to grow (however, ethnic Moldovans still make up the largest ethnic group). Typically, most of Transistria`s Russian and Ukrainian population are not natives (born there), and even possed Russian citisenship, as most of the Transnistrian governamental aparatus:

The leadership of the Transnistrian region:

  • SMIRNOV, Igor Nikolayevich, "President", born on 23 October 1941 in Khabarovsk, Russian Federation, Russian passport No 50 NO. 0337530.
  • SMIRNOV, Vladimir Igorevich, son of No 1 and "Chairman of the State Customs Committee", born on 3 April 1961 in Kupiansk (?), Kharkovskaya Oblast, Ukraine, Russian passport No 50 NO. 00337016.
  • SMIRNOV, Oleg Igorevich, son of No 1 and "Adviser to the State Customs Committee", born on 8 August 1967 in Novaya Kakhovka, Khersonskaya Oblast, Ukraine, Russian passport No 60 NO. 1907537.
  • LEONTIYEV, Serghey Fedorovich, "Vice-President", born on 9 February 1944 in Leontiyevka, Odesskaya Oblast, Ukraine, Russian passport No 50 NO. 0065438.
  • MARAKUTSA, Grigory Stepanovich, "Member of the Supreme Soviet", born on 15 October 1942 in Teya, Grigoriopolsky Raion, Moldova, old Soviet passport No 8BM724835.
  • KAMINSKY, Anatoly Vladimirovich, "Vice-Chairman of the Supreme Soviet", born on 15 March 1950 in Chita, Russian Federation, old Soviet passport No A25056238.
  • SHEVCHUK, Evgheny Vassilyevich, "Chairman of the Supreme Soviet", born on 21 June 1946 in Novosibirsk, Russian Federation, old Soviet passport No A25004230.
  • LITSKAI, Valery Anatolyevich, "Minister for Foreign Affairs", born on 13 February 1949 in Tver, Russian Federation, Russian passport No 51 NO. 0076099, issued 9 August 2000.
  • KHAZHEYEV, Stanislav Galimovich, "Minister for Defence", born on 28 December 1941 in Chelyabinsk, Russian Federation.
  • ANTYUFEYEV, Vladimir Yuryevich, alias SHEVTSOV, Vadim, "Minister for State Security", born in 1951 in Novosibirsk, Russian Federation, Russian passport.
  • KOROLYOV, Alexandr Ivanovich, "Minister for Internal Affairs", born in 1951 in Briansk, Russian Federation, Russian passport.
  • BALALA, Viktor Alekseyevich, born in 1961 in Vinnitsa, Ukraine.
  • AKULOV, Boris Nikolayevich, "Representative of Transnistria in Ukraine".
  • ZAKHAROV, Viktor Pavlovich, "Prosecutor of Transnistria", born in 1948 in Kamenka, Moldova.
  • LIPOVTSEV, Alexey Valentinovich, "Deputy Chairman of State Customs Service".
  • GUDYMO, Oleg Andreyevich, "Deputy Minister for State Security", born on 11 September 1944 in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan, Russian passport No 51 NO. 0592094.
  • KOSOVSKY, Eduard Alexandrovich, "Chairman of the Transnistrian Republican Bank", born on 7 October 1958 in Floreşti, Moldova."

Position of the Transnistrian side

The territory to the East of the Dniester River never belonged neither to Romania, nor to its predecessors, such as the Principality of Moldavia. This territory was split off from Ukrainian SSR in a political maneuver of the USSR to become a seed of the Moldavian SSR. (A similar example of a Soviet expansionist maneuver was the Finnish Democratic Republic). Transnistria ceded itself from Moldavian SSR before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Since Moldova declared independence of the Soviet Union, all political arrangements made within the Soviet Union must be considered void. Furthermore, the Transnistrian side brings fourth the fashion in which the Republic of Moldova declared independence, by issuing that it considers the Molotov-Ribentropp Pact null and void. The Transnistrians argue that if this is so, then the Moldovans themselves have agreed to relinquish Transnistria as this territory never belonged to Moldova, nor to Romania before the abovementioned treaty.

Position of the Moldovan side

The Republic of Moldova considers itself the rightful successor state to the Moldavian SSR. It considers the current Transnistrian government to be illegitimate and not the rightful representative of the region's populace. It insists that Transnistria cannot exist as an independent political entity and must be reintegrated into Moldova.

See also

External links

Transnistrian side

Moldovan side

Others

International organizations
Ukrainian side
Russian side
Romanian side
  1. Council of Europe Decision 2006/96/CFSP of 14 February 2006 implementing Common Position 2004/179/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against the leadership of the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova - Official Journal L 044 , 15/02/2006 P. 0032 - 0033
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