The Armed Conflict of the Dniester: Three Decades Later(3 South-East European History)

Published to mark the three decades of a war whose grievances have never been satisfactorily resolved, The Armed Conflict of the Dniester: Three Decades Later brings together an international team of experts to discuss the causes and repercussions of the military operations carried out in 1992. Against the backdrop of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the region of Transnistria—a strip of land between the Dniester river and the Ukrainian border—proclaimed independence from Moldova in 1990. In a development with notable contemporary resonances, the separatist movement was backed by Moscow, leading to intervention by the Russian Fourteenth Army alongside paramilitary formations recruited from former Soviet states. The subsequent conflict with Moldovan forces was brought to an end by the 1992 ceasefire, but few were satifised with the arrangement, and the political status of Transnistria has been unresolved ever since. This book—the result of collaboration between The Laboratory for the Analysis of the Transnistrian Conict (Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania) and the Balkan History Association—presents a wide range of voices, and seeks to be non-partisan in its approach. Among the issues it tackles are the political and geopolitical causes of the war; the documentary sources and their analysis; quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the combat forces, their levels of training and professionalism, command structures, tactics, weapons, and equipment; the organization and actions of the paramilitaries; the interests of Russia, Moldova, and other international actors, and their political and military actions; and finally the political and patriotic capital generated by the war. The book will be useful to scholars and students, but also to all those involved in the observation and regulation of the Dniester conflict. Finally, anyone interested in the evolution and status of ‘frozen conflicts’—particularly in light of recent events in Ukraine—will find much of interest.

Table of Contents:
Eugen Străuțiu: Introduction – Mihai Melintei: The 1992 Dniester Armed Conflict: An Analytical Approach to the Politico-Military Events from the Perspective of the Involved Parties – Keith Harrington: Support for Moldova’s Territorial Integrity in the Transnistrian Region from 1989 to 1992 – Anatoliy Dirun: Armed Stage in the Moldovan-Pridnestrovian Conflict: Causes and Political Consequences – Dareg Zabarah-Chulak: Fighting for What and Whom? The Non-Resident Volunteers During the Armed Conflict in Pridnestrovie – Nicoleta Annemarie Munteanu: War Memorials Published in Chisinau: Between Documentary Value and Patriotic Manifesto – Ana Jović-Lazić: The Russian Federation’s Approach to the Unresolved Dniester Conflict and Its Implications for the Security and Foreign Policy of the Republic of Moldova – Maximilian Ohle: Moldova and Transnistria’s Bargaining Strategies Towards Russia: Deciphering Bargaining Codes in Asymmetric Relationships – Tarik Solmaz: Russian Involvement in the Transnistrian War: A Prototype of Russian Modern “Hybrid Warfare”? – Kamala Valiyeva: Revisiting Moldova’s Transnistria Dispute Amid Severing EU-Russia Ties – Notes on Editors – Notes on Contributors.

About the Author :
The members of the editorial team belong to Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu (Eugen Străuțiu), Florida Atlantic University (Steven D. Roper), University of North Carolina at Greensboro (William E. Crowther), Balkan History Association (Dareg Zabarah-Chulak), Institute of Legal, Political and Sociological Research, Chisinau (Victor Juc), and US Army War College (Robert E. Hamilton)