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Historical
Background
The end of the 18th century
marked the Russian and Ukrainian
colonization in this region,
with the aim of defending what
was at the time the Imperial
Russian south-western border.
After the Soviet Revolution, the
region was part of the Moldavian
Autonomous Oblast in the
Ukrainian SSR. Romanian speakers
still made up a significant
portion of the inhabitants of
the region and Romanian-language
schools were opened.
After World War II, it was
included with Bessarabia into
the Moldavian SSR in exchange
for the Southern Bessarabia
which was included in the
Ukrainian SSR.
In the 1940's, Transnistria (as
it was then called)
suffered as many ethnic
Romanians were deported to
Siberia and Kazakhstan and were
replaced by Ukrainians and
Russians. Most ethnic Romanians
were allowed to return in the
50's, during the process of
de-Stalinisation.
Most industry that was built in
the Moldavian SSR was
concentrated in Pridnestrovie,
while the rest of Moldova had a
predominantly agricultural
economy. In 1990, Pridnestrovie
accounted for 40% of Moldova's
GDP and 90% of its electricity
production.
The 14th Soviet army has been
based there since 1956 and was
kept there after the fall of the
Soviet Union to safeguard what
is probably the biggest weapons
stockpile and ammunition depot
in Europe, which was set up in
Soviet times for possible
operations on the South-eastern
Theatre in the event of World
War III. Russia is rather
half-heartedly negotiating with
Pridnestrovie and Ukraine for
transit rights to be able to
evacuate the military material
back to Russia.
Population
& Economics
Population
Population of the region is
633,600 (2001). At the last
census of 1989, the population
was 546,400.
Recently, there has been a
substantial emigration from the
region due to economic hardships
of the 1990s. This is one of the
reasons why a disproportionately
large part of the population is
past the age of retirement.
The GDP is about $420 million
(*) and the GDP per capita,
based on the exchange rate, is
$662, making the area slightly
wealthier than Moldova overall
but still one of the poorest
parts of Europe.
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The Civil War
In 1989, the
Moldovans in the capital of
Chişinău, often called Kishinev
in English, declared Moldovan (actually Romanian) to be the
official language, and talks
began regarding reunification
with Romania. The Slavs on the
left bank of the Dniester River
declared their own
Republic on September 2, 1990
and a civil war broke out in
1992, taking roughly 1,500
lives. The war was ended after a
cease-fire was negotiated by the
Moldovan, PMR, Russian
and Ukrainian representatives.
A part of the cease-fire
agreement was a Russian
peacekeeping force in the
region: a controversial action
to some, a necessary guarantee
of protection to others. Ever
since, the Moldovan government
has had no actual authority over
the PMR region.
Although an agreement with
Moldova was signed in 1994 to
withdraw all the Russian troops
from PMR, it was never
ratified by the Russian State
Duma.
In July 2004, a PMR
separatist leader declared that
the separatist entity would
organize a referendum in the
autumn of 2004 on whether
PMR would become part
of the Russian Federation, even
though the region has no common
border with Russia.
The 2004
Crisis The
separatist PMR
authorities began forcibly
closing schools that used
Romanian language in Latin
script, and several teachers and
parents who opposed the closures
were arrested. The Moldovan
government decided to create a
blockade that would isolate the
autonomous republic from the
rest of the country.
The PMR retaliated by a
series of actions meant to
destabilize the economic
situation in Moldova: since,
during the Soviet times, most of
the power plants in Moldova were
built in PMR, this
crisis generated power outages
in parts of Moldova.
Currently the OSCE, with former
Bulgarian president Petur
Stoyanov as lead negotiator, are
negotiating to resolve the
situation.
View of Bendery
on the Dniester River
Government
Buildings in Tiraspol
War Memorial in
Bendery
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