Transnistria War

The Russian 14th Army's role in the area was crucial to the outcome of the war. A significant portion of the personnel of the 14th Army were local conscripts and officers. A large numbers of the Black Sea Cossacks and Russian nationals went to Transnistria to fight alongside the separatists.

The separatists were able to arm themselves with weapons taken from the stores of the former 14th Army. The Russian troops chose not to oppose the separatists who had come to help themselves from the Army’s stores; on the contrary, in many cases they helped the separatists equip themselves by handing over weapons and by opening up the ammunition stores to them. The Moldovan army was in a position of inferiority which prevented it from regaining control of Transnistria.

In December 1991 the Moldovan authorities arrested Lieutenant-General Yakovlev in Ukrainian territory, accusing him of helping the Transnistria separatists to arm themselves by using the weapons stocks of the 14th Army. At that time, General Yakovlev has been both Commander of the 14th Army and "Head of the National Defence and Security Department" of Transnistrian entity. The authorities of the Russian Federation interceded with the Moldovan authorities to obtain the release of General Yakovlev.

On 5 April 1992, the Vice-President Rutskoy of the Russian Federation, in a speech delivered to 5,000 people in Tiraspol, incited the Transnistria people to obtain their independence, under the protection of the Russian Operational Group (ROG) -the former 14th Army.

The full scale conflict erupted after the regular Moldovan forces entered the city of Bender in an attempt to reestablish the authority of Moldova there. It has been reported that this action was a response to the stand-off at the police station in Bender on 19 June 1992. On the afternoon of that day the Moldovan police in Bender arrested the 14th Army's major Yermakov on a suspicion of a planned subversion. After his arrest the Transnistria guards opened fire at the police station.

On the following morning the Moldovan forces moved into the city. Urban warfare ensued between the two sides in the densely populated city. In the course of combat actions in Bendery there were casualties among the civilian population. However there was no purposeful annihilation of noncombatants or acts of large-scale violence against civilians. There were, however, occasional incidents of indiscriminate fire, launched by both sides at residential quarters.

The news of the havoc in Bender reached Tiraspol, only 10 km away, as the Moldovan forces were approaching the crucial bridge over the Dniester River. At this point the Transnistria Republican Guard and Cossack volunteers were rushed to confront them, supported by ROG's tanks. In the course of the next days the city of Bender was retaken by the Tiraspol-lead forces.

ROG destroyed a Moldovan unit at Chiţcani on 30 June and they shelled several Moldovan positions at around Dubossary, Slobodzeya and Bender between 1 June and 3 July.

The Russian Government confirmed that ROG Parcani sapper battalion, under the orders of General Butkevich, had gone over to the separatist side. It was the Parcani Russian battalion which had destroyed the bridges at Dubossary, Gura Bâcului-Bâcioc and Coşniţa. Moldovan forces have used aircraft in the village of Parkani and shelled the ROG station.

A ceasefire agreement was signed on 21 July. This official document whose broad lines was established by the Russian side, was signed by the presidents of Russia (Boris Yeltsin) and Moldova (Mircea Snegur).

The agreement provided for peacekeeping forces charged with ensuring observance of the ceasefire and security arrangements, composed of five Russian battalions, three Moldovan battalions and two Transnistria battalions under the orders of a joint military command structure.