Russian military presence in Transnistria
14th Army involvement in the conflict in Transnistria was extensive and contributed to the outcome, which left a disputed status of the Moldovan region of Transnistria (recognized internationally as part of Republic of Moldova).
The 14th Army was an element of the Soviet Red Army stationed in Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic, primarily concentrated on the left bank of the Dniester in the region of Transnistria. Local Transnistrians made up the great majority of the 14th Army’s soldiers, including 51 percent of the officers and 79 percent of the draftees.[1]
Even before the outbreak of armed conflict in 1992, the 14th Army counted among its officers and enlisted men a number of supporters of Transnistrian independence from Moldova. The commanding officer of the army until 1992, General G. I. Iakovlev, participated in the founding of the Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic (PMR), served in the PMR Supreme Soviet and accepted the position as the first chairman of the PMR Department of Defense.[2]
In early 1992 Iakovlev was replaced as commander of the 14th Army with the more neutral Muscovite, Iurii Netkachev.[3] Also, in the spring of 1992, the Russian Federation assumed jurisdiction of the army.
While the official policy of the Russian Federation early after the outbreak of widespread armed conflict in 1992 was one of neutrality, many soldiers of the 14th Army actively participated in the fighting. Furthermore, a considerable amount of the army’s materiel was taken by or given to the PMR armed forces.[4]
With the near disintegration of the army during the heaviest fighting in and around Tighina (Bender) during June 1992, Netkachev was quickly replaced with General Aleksandr Lebed. Under the command of Lebed, Russian troops following the orders of the Russian general openly entered the conflict on the side of the PMR separatists and quickly ended the conflict with the bloody massacre of Moldovan forces concentrated in Gerbovetskii forest.[5] According to at least one Moldovan source, 112 Moldovan soldiers were killed by the unexpected Russian artillery salvo aimed at the Gerbovetskii staging ground.
Since the end of the conflict, the 14th Army has remained in the region as a peacekeeping force.
See also
Notes
- ^ Edward Ozhiganov, “The Republic of Moldova: Transdniester and the 14th Army,” in Managing Conflict in the Former Soviet Union: Russian and American Perspectives, Alexei Arbatov, et al. eds. (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1997), 179.
- ^ Anna Volkova, Lider (Tiraspol’: [s.n.], 2001), 56. Available online at: http://www.olvia.idknet.com/soderjanie.htm
- ^ Igor Smirnov, Zhit’ na nashei zemle. (Moscow: Sovetskii pisatel’, 2001), 62.
- ^ The flow of Red Army men and materiel to PMR armed forces was widely reported in the CIS press at the time. See for ex., Nezavisimaya Gazeta, June 18, 1992 trans. in FBIS, June 19, 1992, 63; and Radio Rossii, June 20, 1992, trans. in FBIS, June 22, 1992, 62.
- ^ Kazakov, Anatolii Mikhailovich. Krovavoe leto v benderakh – zapiski pokhodnogo atamana. http://artofwar.ru/k/kazakow_a_m/text_0420.shtml (in Russian)