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MoldovaIndependence
During the 1991
August coup d'état (see Glossary) in
Moscow,
commanders of the Soviet Union's Southwestern Theater of
Military
Operations tried to impose a state of emergency in
Moldova, but
they were overruled by the Moldovan government, which
declared
its support for Russian president Boris N. Yeltsin. On
August 27,
1991, following the coup's collapse, Moldova declared its
independence from the Soviet Union
(see Appendix B).
In October, Moldova began to organize its own armed
forces.
The Soviet Union was falling apart quickly, and Moldova
had to
rely on itself to prevent the spread of violence from the
"Dnestr
Republic" to the rest of the country. The December
elections of
Stepan Topal and Igor' Smirnov as presidents of their
respective
"republics," and the official dissolution of the Soviet
Union at
the end of the year, led to increased tensions in Moldova.
Violence again flared up in Transnistria in 1992. A
ceasefire agreement was negotiated by presidents Snegur and
Yeltsin in
July. A demarcation line was to be maintained by a
tripartite
peacekeeping force (composed of Moldovan, Russian, and
Transnistrian forces), and Moscow agreed to withdraw its
14th
Army if a suitable constitutional provision were made for
Transnistria. Also, Transnistria would have a special
status
within Moldova and would have the right to secede if
Moldova
decided to reunite with Romania.
Data as of June 1995
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