The Transnistria War (2 March-21 July 1992) was a war fought between the unrecognized state of Transnistria and Russia and the country of Moldova. Transnistria broke away from Moldova after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the start of Moldovan initiatives to join Romania, with the breakaway state refusing to abandon the Russian language due to the majority of its population being ethnic Russians. The Transnistrians formed a "republican guard" to defend the country, and the Russian 14th Army's sympathetic officers sent equipment to the Transnistrian forces, while some elements proceeded to desert to the rebels' side. Eventually, the Russian 14th Army was formally engaged in the war on the side of Transnistria, and it suffered heavy losses during the Moldovan offensive of June 1992. However, Alexander Lebed took over the army and obliterated Moldovan forces in the Hirbovat Forest with an artillery barrage on 3 July. Russian forces were not the only foreign volunteers to fight in the war; the far-right UNA-UNSO group in Ukraine and Cossacks from Russia joined the Transnistrian forces, while Romanian volunteers joined the Moldovan army. On 21 July 1992, the Russians negotiated a peace deal, securing Transnistria's de facto independence, although it was internationally recognized as a part of Moldova. As many as 913 Transnistrians were killed and 624 wounded, while as many as 324 Moldovans were killed and 1,180 wounded in the short, yet bloody, war; it is currently a "frozen conflict", with the territorial issues remaining unresolved.
Advertisement