Moldova did not have chances to win Nistru war, Anatol Taranu

[Info-Prim Neo article from the series “20 years of the start of the war. When should we expect peace?”] Moldova did not have chances to win the Nistru armed conflict. There were only outward battles between the constitutional and separatist forces. In reality, it was a war between Moldova and Russia, said political analyst Anatol Taranu, head of the Strategic Researches and Political Consultancy Center “Politicon”. Speaking about the events that caused the Transnistrian conflict, Anatol Taranu said the personnel of many industrial companies managed by Moscow and most of the residents of the Transnistrian region were against the introduction of the Romanian language and Latin script in 1989 and staged protests. In December – January 1989, illegal referendums had been held in Tiraspol and Rybnitsa to obtain the status of ‘autonomous territory’ of the Transnistrian region. Anatol Taranu said the separatist regime firstly violated the laws of the Soviet Union, when they proclaimed the Moldovan Transnistrian Soviet Socialist Republic on September 2, 1990, and when the separatists held the Second Extraordinary Congress of the People’s Deputies of Transnistria. Then they broke the laws of the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic by establishing a separatist regime. According to the head of “Politicon”, in the Moldovan Parliament of 1990, the Transnistrian region was represented mainly by deputies with harsh pro-imperialist views. The tension reached its height in the summer of 1990 and the Transnistrian deputies left Parliament. The Russian-speaking minorities were against Moldova withdrawing from the USSR. The Russian-speaking elites believed they will sustain not only ideological, but also economic disadvantages. [The separatists needed bloodshed to frighten population] The separation of the Transnistrian territory was stimulated by foreign factors as well. The conflict between the Russian-speaking and Romanian-speaking elites fueled the Kremlin’s plans to hinder Moldova’s withdrawal from the USSR. The imperial center always encouraged separatism in Transnistria, said Anatol Taranu. As the USSR was falling apart, the separatists were more interested in a large-scale armed conflict. The need to preserve the Soviet Union, which was the main reason that united the separatists and assigned them a kind of legitimacy, was disappearing. “They needed blushed in order to frighten the population. They needed an armed conflict to divide the republic. This made the Transnistrian separatists to resort to major challenges. Throughout 1991, the separatist did nothing but illegally take over the state power in Transnistria,” stated Anatol Taranu. Since the start of 1991, a series of activities aimed at eliminating the constitutional authorities of the region took place. Benefiting from the passivity of the Moldovan authorities, the separatists created their own armed forces – the republican guard, the militia, local rescue detachments, Cossacks with the status of volunteers, different merchants. They were outfitted with armament and military vehicles belonging to Russia’s 14th Army that was deployed in the region. Anatol Taranu said the separatists’ military force was significantly multiplied by the support of the 14th Army, whose capacity was much higher than that of Chisinau and included a motorized division, two artillery regiments, a tank regiment, an anti-tank regiment, a rocket regiment and a squadron of helicopters. For comparison, when the armed conflict began, Moldova hadn’t finished creating its army and had only personnel of several thousand police officers. [Chisinau suffered defeat after defeat] Moscow will have a loyal attitude towards the separatists and always sympathized with them. The Moldovan government suffered defeat after defeat in the attempts to restore the constitutional control of the region. Most often, Chisinau’s deeds were limited to statements only. In the autumn of 1991, all the state bodies in Transnistria were controlled by force by the separatist regime. The first armed struggles between the constitutional forces and the separatist paramilitary detachments occurred also then. As a matter of fact, the armed conflict started in 1991, but the fighting intensified from March 2, 1992, said Anatol Taranu. On December 13, 1991, the guard members staged an armed attack at the bridge in Dubasari. It resulted in the death of four Moldovan police officers and losses of lives on the part of the guard. On March 2, 1992 the separatists began the armed conflict in Dubasari and the war extended. The struggles lasted until June 21, 1991, when the President of Moldova Mircea Snegur and the President of Russia Boris Yeltsin signed the Moscow Convention. “The war was actually between Moldova and Russia and the agreement signed by Snegur and Yeltsin shows this,” said Anatol Taranu. About 1,000 people died in the Nistru armed conflict. Another 30,000 people became refugees. Many of them did not return home. Anatol Taranu said that after the war the Transnistrian region was transformed into a separatist enclave. Illegal schemes started to be employed there. Persons from Transnistria, Russia and Ukraine profited from them. A part of the elite in Chisinau also used the situation in Transnistrian to enrich themselves. Transnistria became a region for contraband and trading in arms and drugs and thus there are forces that want to maintain this separatist regime. [Mariana Galben, Info-Prim Neo]