Battle of Dubăsari (1992)

Battle of Dubăsari
Part of Transnistria War
Mound of Glory in Dubăsari between the villages of Dorotcaia and Pogrebi
Date 1 March – 22 July 1992 Location Dubăsari Result Transnistrian victory Territorial changes Division of the district on the territory of Moldova and Transnistria
Belligerents
Moldova	Transnistria

The Battle of Dubăsari was the 1992 fight for the Moldovan city of Dubăsari between Moldovan troops on the one hand and pro-Russian separatists, Russian and Ukrainian volunteers, and units of the 14th Army of the Russian Federation on the other. One of the key events of the Transnistria War.

Background

In the late 1980s, as a result of perestroika, national issues in the Soviet Union became more acute. Social movements uniting representatives of the titular nationalities of the respective republics emerged in the Soviet republics. In the MSSR, there were calls for the introduction of a single state language, Moldovan, and for the unification of Moldova with Romania. The draft law caused a negative reaction among the part of the Transnistrian population that did not speak Moldovan.

In 1990, all deputies from Transnistria left the Supreme Soviet of the MSSR and on 2 September proclaimed a separate Transnistrian Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic (TMSSR). The first armed clashes between Moldovan and Transnistrian law enforcement officers soon followed.

On 17 March 1991, an all-Union referendum was held on the preservation of the USSR. Moldova did not support it and subsequently declared its independence. So did Transnistria. The UN recognised only Moldova as a state. On 2 March 1992, Moldova became a full member of the UN.

Armed conflict

Political opposition

Clashes in November 1990

On 2 November 1990, at approximately 13:00, Deputy Minister Grossul reported in Dubăsari that columns of Moldovans and Moldovan volunteers were coming to seize the city, despite his failure to comply with the order of the Minister of Internal Affairs.

Between 13:30 and 14:00, an unauthorised gathering of citizens near plants and factories began in Dubasari against the deployment of Moldovan police. People began to gather in an emergency manner at the signals of civil defence sirens near the enterprises where the buses were being picked up.

However, the new residents, who had been gathering near the businesses, were now taken by bus to Bolshoi Fontan. During the clashes, after several shots were fired in the air, firearms were used against the protesters at around 15:30, killing 3 residents. These were the first casualties in the Transnistrian conflict.Another 16 people were wounded, 9 of them received gunshot wounds.

In the evening of the same day, at nightfall, the BGS left the approaches to the city and blocked the roads to the city. By 19:00, the BGSP post between Dubăsari and Krasny Vinogradar village was dispersed by pensioner women from Krasny Vinogradar armed with only farm equipment, who arrived on a trailer attached to a tractor. By 21:00, having received reports that local residents of Dzerzhynske village were preparing to encircle the BGSF forces, the BGSF were forced to flee across the Dniester to the town of Criuleni.

Clashes in 25 September – 4 October 1991

The events in Dubăsari provoked a negative reaction in the Transnistrian Moldovan SSR, paramilitary Transnistrian formations were created, and in mid-1991 they began to receive their first weapons.; the local population demanded a trial of the Moldovan leadership. The city's population began to block the activities of the Moldovan police, who was forced to take up a circular defence in the police building overnight, hiding the Romanian flag against insults, as the police did not yet have a Moldovan flag.

A new deterioration of the situation in the city began in the second half of 1991. It was caused by the failure of the August coup in Moscow, after which Moldova and began arresting deputies of all levels from Dubăsari. The city police department, seeing disloyalty the police from the northern regions of Moldova, who regularly organised provocations against local residents, as well as members of the Supreme Council of Moldova from Dubasari, who stood up to defend the rights of residents, were redeployed.

Dubăsari and Dubăsari district after the conflict

After the armed conflict in Transnistria, Dubasari district was divided into two parts: Moldovan and Transnistrian. At present, Moldova controls some territories and settlements on the left bank of the river, which were declared by the TMR authorities as the territory of the Republic. The affiliation of the city's Korzhevo neighbourhood, which is controlled by the TMR authorities but considered by Moldova to be a separate village, remains problematic. According to the Moldovan side, the Transnistrian leadership "ignores the fact that the village belongs to Moldova" and also obstructs the work of the police, which is trying to establish control over Corjevo.

Due to the conflict, many lands that allegedly belonged to the villages of the Dubasari District Council (in exile) of the Republic of Moldova and the private property of the residents of these villages were divided or isolated from Moldova. The total area of such lands in Dubasari district is 8925.25 hectares. Formally, these territories belong to the Moldovan villages of Cocieri, Cosnita, Dorotcaia, Nova Malovata and Pirita. In reality, they have been owned and cultivated since 1992 by agricultural enterprises of the Transnistrian Moldovan Republic. According to Moldovan sources, Transnistrian agricultural enterprises do not allow residents of these settlements, to whom Moldova gave these lands on paper (without agreeing with the TMR) for the fish farming road to cultivate the land. Moldovan media disseminate information that the territories behind the road are allegedly abandoned and not controlled by anyone.

Casualites and ruins

Half of the victims were civilians who died at their workplaces or in their homes. The memory of the heads of food and trade enterprises who died on 6 July 1992 after the shelling of Dubasari City Council by Moldovan howitzers is the most significant for the city's residents:.

The other half were killed by paramilitary groups defending Dubasari, many of whom were volunteers and mercenaries from Russia.

Many residents of the city became orphans and disabled after the 1992 war.

1 August declared Memorial Day in Dubăsari.

See also

• Battle of Bender (1992)
• Transnistria conflict

References

Template:Transnistria conflict

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