Transnistria (PMR)

Main article: Countries of the world

Transnistria in other European languages

Government

Main article: Government of Transnistria

Population

The number of residents of Transnistria for 30 years from 1991 to 2021 fell from 731 to 306 thousand.

The population of Tiraspol from a record 204 thousand decreased at the beginning of 2022 to 128,979 people.

The main reason is emigration caused by the economic and political situation.

Economy

Currency: Transnistrian ruble

The local currency is Transnistrian rubles. On a bill of 1, 5, 10, 15 and 25 rubles - the Russian commander Alexander Suvorov. There are coins, not metal, but plastic, on them the same Suvorov, and also the Russian Empress Catherine II.

Business

Sheriff

The Sheriff holding manages all profitable assets in the republic, being the owner of:

• Sheriff gas station networks,
• supermarkets Sheriff,
• TSV television channel,
• controls the mobile and fixed communications market (Interdnestrcom),
• Agroprombank,
• owns a publishing house,
• advertising agency,
• KVINT wine and cognac factory,
• two bakery,
• Sheriff Football Club
• textile manufacturer Tyrotex,
• complex for the cultivation of sturgeon and the production of black caviar "Aquatir,"
• Hotel "Russia"

and other objects.

During the reign of Igor Smirnov, part of the Transnistrian establishment was somehow connected with the Sheriff holding. Yevgeny Shevchuk, who was elected president of the PMR in December 2011, also held a position in this business structure at one time.

In 2016, Vadim Krasnoselsky, who was supported by Sheriff and the ruling Renewal party funded by him, won the presidential election.

Moldavian GRES

The Moldavian state district power station is located in Transnistria (PMR) on the western bank of the Kuchurgan estuary, on the border with Ukraine (Odessa region). Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the station provided power to consumers in Moldova and the southern regions of Ukraine. Some of the electricity was transmitted to Bulgaria.

In 2005, CJSC Moldavskaya GRES became part of INTER RAO UES Group.

From the open switchgear of the Moldavian TPP in 2022 there is a 400kV high-voltage line to the territory of Romania, as well as a 330kV overhead line to the territory of Moldova, Ukraine and Transnistria itself.

Data for October 2022

Moldavian Metallurgical Plant

Main article: Moldavian Metallurgical Plant

Tiraspoltransgas

Main article: Tiraspoltransgaz

Armed Forces

PMR Army

Estimation of the size of the army of Transnistria as of April 26, 2022:

• 7,500 people on active duty
• 15-20 thousand people in the current reserve
• 80 thousand people - the maximum mobilization opportunity.

The PMR Armed Forces has 4 motorized rifle brigades located in the cities of Tiraspol, Bender, Dubossary and Rybnitsa, of which one is guards (deployed in the city of Tiraspol). Four Special Purpose Battalions.

In addition, there is information that a detachment of helicopters is located there, as well as two battalions of military unit No. 13962 to protect one of the largest weapons and ammunition depots in Europe in Kolbasna.

· 100 tanks

· Up to 200 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles

· 35,000 vehicles

· Combat vehicles with ATGM

· BDRM

· 500 units of military engineering equipment

· 200 SAM

· MLRS Grad

· Artillery pieces and mortars

Russian Armed Forces: 450 peacekeepers

As of April 26, 2022, it was believed that there were 2,500-3,000 Russian troops in the Transnistrian Moldavian Republic (PMR). These are the 82nd and 113th separate guards motorized rifle battalions, and the 540th separate control battalion.

The official name is the task force. Almost the entire composition, with the exception of officers, are local residents who have Russian citizenship. The armament is extremely light: there are no tanks, no air defense, no aviation. And the very presence of peacekeepers has long been considered symbolic, because the conflict around Transnistria has been frozen for more than 25 years.

But in May 2023, when the representative of Transnistria in Moscow Leonid Manakov asked Russia to increase the number of peacekeepers in the republic, it turned out that the number of Russian peacekeepers does not exceed 450 people, although 3,100 are supposed to be in the state.

History

2023

The murder of opposition politician Oleg Khorzhan

In Transnistria, on the night of July 16-17, 2023, the leader of the Communist Party of the Republic Oleg Khorzhan was killed. The politician was found dead in his own house in the village of Sukleya with multiple stab wounds.

A criminal case was opened in the Investigative Committee of the PMR. The department notes that Khorzhana was found by her wife next to an open and empty safe.

Khorzhan in 2010-2019. was a deputy of the Supreme Council of Transnistria, but in 2018 he was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for the use of violence against a government official. The politician himself called the case political.

After his release at the end of 2022, Horjan announced his return to politics.

On July 9, Khorzhan, on behalf of the Union of Opposition Forces of Transnistria, signed a declaration with the Moldovan opposition Civil Congress party on consolidating efforts in the struggle for the economic and humanitarian rights of residents of both banks of the Dniester. This was the first joint declaration of parties from the PMR and Moldova. At the same time, politicians noted that it does not mean a desire to unite the republics.

In an interview in 2021, Khorzhan criticized the Sheriff holding, which economically and politically controls all of Transnistria. The politician also said that his family members were forced to flee to Russia from persecution by the PMR authorities.

Unsuccessful attempts by the special services of Ukraine on the OSCE delegations and on the President of the PMR

The Ministry of State Security of Transnistria on March 9, 2023 announced an attempt to assassinate the head of the republic, Vadim Krasnoselsky.

Vadim Krasnoselsky - President of the PMR

According to the PMR MGB, the attack was being prepared at the direction of the SBU. It was planned to blow up the SUV of the head of the republic by blowing up eight kilograms of a mixture of RDX with striking elements. The suspect in the terrorist attack was detained. It turned out to be a Ukrainian terrorist who studied the SBU mine-explosive business. He lived in Ukraine since the early 2010s, after the start of the military special operation of Russia, he was listed in the Odessa theroboron.

The second terrorist, who was preparing an assassination attempt on the head of the region, Vadim Krasnoselsky, said that he was collecting a device for surveillance on a piece of paper from the SBU.

According to him, an employee of the Ukrainian special services offered him help in crossing the border with Moldova and money in exchange for agreeing to become an informant.

Later, on March 14, 2023, the prosecutor of the Transnistrian Moldavian Republic stated that saboteurs, one of whom had previously been detained in Tiraspol, were preparing a terrorist attack against the OSCE delegation.

According to the prosecutor, the terrorists planned to blow up the delegation's car on February 14 near the Bendery fortress.

On March 16, 2023, new details emerged. Terrorist Vyacheslav Kisnichan planned to blow up the SUV of the head of the PMR. In total, at least six people participated in the preparation of the terrorist attack, all of them were detained.

The Moldovan authorities asked to transfer to them for interrogation the suspects in the preparation of the terrorist attack, but the PMR law enforcement officers refused them this.

In addition, the investigation in Transnistria has questions regarding the circumstances of the delivery of explosives to the republic through the territory of Moldova.

2022: Sabotage during the conflict in Ukraine

On the morning of May 7, 2022, the press service of the PMR Ministry of Internal Affairs published information about new terrorist attacks on the territory of the unrecognized republic.

On May 5, at about 22:20, an unknown unmanned aerial vehicle dropped two explosive devices in the area of ​ ​ the former airfield near the village of Voronkovo. There were no injuries or destruction.

On May 6, at about 21:40 in the same area, the UAV again dropped two explosive devices, repeating the attack about an hour later.

The drone flight was filmed by local residents. Eyewitnesses reported that the UAV flew in from Ukraine. There were no injuries or destruction, as after the previous incident.

The press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the PMR made an official statement and published photographs of funnels, the depth of which is about 1 meter, and the diameter is 25 centimeters.

The latest incident was the sixth in a series of terrorist attacks and sabotage carried out on the territory of Transnistria in the period from April 24.

Attacks on the airfield area in Voronkovo are nothing more than a provocation aimed at further destabilizing the situation in the PMR, since the airfield itself does not represent any strategic value.

On June 5, 2022, at about 5 hours 10 minutes, two explosive devices, presumably RGD-5 grenades, were dropped on the territory of the fleet of the reserve unit of the peacekeeping contingent of Transnistria in the area of ​ ​ the village of Vladimirovka by an unidentified aircraft (drone). There are no injuries and destruction, the Investigative Committee of the PMR said.

2017

Moldova recognizes PMR diplomas, return of direct telephone communication, frequencies for IDC

On November 27, 2017, negotiations on Transnistria are held in Vienna, since Austria is chairing the OSCE this year. In 2017, Tiraspol and Moscow more than once called to gather in the "5 + 2" format, but the Austrians were adamant and replied that the negotiations would take place on condition that the parties agree on at least some issues. This happened on November 25 in Transnistrian Bender, where Messrs. Belan and Ignatiev reached agreement on four issues at once.

The first document refers to the apostilation (confirmation of legal force) of documents on education issued in Transnistria. The stumbling block was the Transnistrian State University named after Taras Shevchenko. Chisinau was categorically against the use of the word "state" in the name of the university. They agreed that in the apostile the name will be written in English: Transdniestrian Taras Shevchenko University.

Another issue is the functioning of Moldovan schools, which are in the unrecognized republic, but are subordinate to Chisinau. Schools have always been an irritant for Tiraspol: every now and then there were problems related to access to them by students and teachers, delivery of textbooks, rent and other issues. Now it should be a thing of the past.

Another problem is telecommunications. There is no direct telephone connection between the two banks of the Dniester since 2006. Because of this, call rates are greatly inflated. In addition, the Transnistrian mobile operator Interdnestrkom"" (brand) IDC works without a Moldavian license. They decided to restore stationary communication, and give Interdnestrkom a license and frequencies.

Finally, the parties agreed to resolve the issue of farmland located on the territory controlled by the authorities of the unrecognized republic, but owned by Moldovan farmers - in recent years it has been extremely difficult for them, and sometimes it is impossible to cultivate land.

Another breakthrough that preceded the meeting in Vienna was the opening of a bridge across the Dniester, which is located on the M14 international highway. The bridge was blown up during the 1992 conflict, rebuilt in the early 2000s, but has remained closed to traffic ever since. transport Moldovan Prime Minister Pavel Filip and leader Transnistria Vadim Krasnoselsky opened it on November 18, 2017 in the presence of the special representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Wolf Dietrich Heim.

Although the mentioned agreements and decisions were blessed by diplomats, and officials from Chisinau and Tiraspol worked on them, a breakthrough, as Kommersant found out, would be impossible without the participation of players who prefer not to advertise involvement in the negotiation process. We are talking about the leader of the ruling Democratic Party in Moldova, oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, who positions himself as a pro-Western politician, and the owner of the largest Transnistrian holding Sheriff Viktor Gushan.

In recent years, Mr. Plahotniuc has created a system of personal power in Moldova, in which, without holding any public positions, he really leads the country and makes key decisions. In Transnistria, a similar situation developed after Vadim Krasnoselsky, who was supported by the Sheriff and the ruling Renewal party funded by him, won the elections there a year ago. The Sheriff holding in Transnistria has no equal assets.

According to informed interlocutors of Kommersant, it follows that Messrs. Plahotniuc and Gushan, in fact, have created a new - shadow - negotiation format, within the framework of which issues of relations between Chisinau and Tiraspol are resolved. "Plahotniuc took the Transnistrian dossier into his own hands a few months ago," a diplomatic source familiar with the non-public side of the negotiations told Kommersant on condition of anonymity. Another informed interlocutor of Kommersant claims that problems in the relationship between Chisinau and Tiraspol have recently often been the topic of conversations between Vladimir Plahotniuc during his meetings with American and European diplomats, including US Ambassador to Moldova James Pettit and the head of the EU delegation to Chisinau Peter^[1].

Another interlocutor of Kommersant, familiar with the negotiations on the Transnistrian settlement, confirms that Mr. Plahotniuc has established direct contacts with the leadership of the Transnistrian Sheriff. According to him, the leader of the Moldovan democrats "directly affects the solution of important issues."

In addition, one of the diplomats assured Kommersant that Vladimir Plahotniuc has excellent relations and direct contact with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko: "He can just pick up the phone and call Poroshenko. And he will answer. " The economic activity of the Transnistrian "Sheriff" is closely connected with Ukraine, from where goods are mainly imported into the unrecognized republic.

Vladimir Plakhotnyuk, who had not previously publicly shown interest in Transnistria and did not comment on the negotiations, after Saturday's agreements hinted at his involvement in the results achieved. "I welcome the signing of protocols on resolving problems important for citizens of the Republic of Moldova, especially those living on the other side of the Dniester," he wrote on Facebook, noting that the negotiations were held with the political support of the Democratic Party. The politician expressed the hope that the agreements reached will give the dynamics of negotiations in the "5 + 2" format.

In a similar vein, the success of the negotiations was commented on on his Facebook page by the pro-Russian President of Moldova Igor Dodon. Experts, however, are confident that Mr. Dodon is trying to demonstrate his influence on decisions that are actually made without him.

"Although Dodon made the Transnistrian topic key and promised that he would make progress, here he does not solve anything. Without the intervention of key people in Chisinau and Tiraspol, it would be impossible to do this (reach agreements. - 'Kommersant'), "Vladislav Klyakhmsky, executive director of the Chisinau Institute for Strategic Initiatives, told Kommersant." It is more profitable for Transnistria to speak with those who can really solve issues. "

The fact that Transnistria, whose leadership has always been considered exclusively pro-Russian, went to unprecedented agreements with Chisinau, the expert explains business interests and the economy:

has become much harder for Pridnestrovie to receive money from Russia, so in regional situations it is necessary to look for new opportunities. For this Tiraspol needs good relations with Moldova, Ukraine and the EU. "

According to Kommersant's information, Transnistria, whose economy has been in deep crisis since the outbreak of hostilities in eastern Ukraine, has recently indeed repeatedly turned to Moscow for financial assistance in addition to that received to pay bonuses to pensioners. It was about hundreds of millions of dollars. However, over and over again Vadim Krasnoselsky and Prime Minister Alexander Martynov returned from Russia with nothing.

Government plan to introduce cryptocurrency into the country's economy

On June 29, 2017, Tiraspol approved the Concept for the Development of E-Commerce, developed at the initiative of the E-Commerce Council at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The concept of e-commerce development will expand the competitive environment and create additional jobs.

"We hope that the implementation of the concept will help eliminate unnecessary bureaucratic barriers for entrepreneurs, improve the business environment and contribute to the growth of transaction volumes and trade turnover," said Minister of Economic Development of the PMR Sergey Obolonik.

As part of the road maps, measures have been developed, for the implementation of which in the future it will be necessary to create an electronic government and develop an electronic digital signature.

"Also by autumn we plan to implement a number of proposals on the possibility of developing a cryptocurrency system in Transnistria," S. Obolonik added.

The authorities of Transnistria announced their interest in creating their own national cryptocurrency back in September ^[2].

2016

Vadim Krasnoselsky elected President of Transnistria

In 2016, Vadim Krasnoselsky, who was supported by Sheriff and the ruling Renewal party funded by him, won the presidential election.

Signing of the Berlin Protocol

In June 2016, negotiations in the "5 + 2" format were held in Berlin (Moldova and Transnistria are parties to the conflict, the OSCE Russia , Ukraine EU USA and mediators, and observers). There, Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister Gheorghe Belan and Foreign Minister Transnistria Vitaly Ignatiev signed the Berlin Protocol, committing themselves to resolve specific, essentially technical, issues. They immediately got bogged down in them and skidded for almost a year and a half. The next meeting was held only in November 2017 in Vienna.

2012

• In January 2012, it became known that Russia was suspending assistance to the Transnistrian Moldavian Republic, previously promised for various economic and social projects. This news after his visit to Moscow was reported by Anatoly Kaminsky, Chairman of the Supreme Council of the PMR, a former candidate for the post of head of the republic, openly supported by the Kremlin and losing in the presidential elections held at the end of 2011. Kaminsky said that he was informed about the freezing of funding (we are talking about the amount of about $300 million) for projects that were part of his election program. These are funds promised to support and develop the agro-industrial complex of the unrecognized republic, small businesses and the Young Family project^[3]

Kaminsky explained the reasons for the curtailment of assistance voiced to him in Moscow. This, firstly, the upcoming presidential elections in Russia, and secondly, Moscow is waiting for the government of the republic to be officially formed. Despite the fact that Moscow did not officially refuse funds to Transnistria, the nature of the dialogue is very unambiguous. The Kremlin doubts the targeted use of previous tranches of financial assistance, in connection with which representatives of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the working group of the Central Bank will soon go to Transnistria.

• In April 2012, it became known that Transnistria was ready to provide Russia with legal assistance in extraditing Oleg Smirnov, the son of the former leader of the unrecognized republic. According to RIA Novosti, the current head of Transnistria Yevgeny Shevchuk said this. ^[4].

Moscow has not yet appealed to Tiraspol with a corresponding request, but if he arrives, help, according to Shevchuk, will be provided in accordance with the legislation of the unrecognized republic. As the president noted, changes may be made to it in the near future that will allow an official of any rank who has committed a crime to be held accountable.

2011

Evgeny Shevchuk elected President

In December 2011, Yevgeny Shevchuk was elected President of the PMR. Shevchuk's election campaign took place under the auspices of the fight against corrupt predecessors, the change of old Soviet leaders by young promising Western-type politicians who promised change. After the victory, Shevchuk signed a decree guaranteeing immunity to Igor Smirnov as the "first president" of the republic.

Criminal case against ex-president Igor Smirnov

In December 2011, another case was initiated in Russia against Smirnov, this time under the article "Appropriation of someone else's property on an especially large scale." According to the investigation, in December 2008, Smirnov transferred more than 180 million rubles to his account with BusinessInvestBank according to forged documents from the settlement account of Torginvest LLC headed by him.

In Russia, they start a case against the son of President Smirnov about the theft of humanitarian aid funds

November 28, 2011 it became known that the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee (SK) of the Russian Federation sent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs () MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS of the Russian Federation documents necessary for forced bringing for interrogation of the former president of OJSC "" Gazprombank(Tiraspol) Oleg Smirnov and Deputy Chairman of the Transnistrian Republican Bank Oleg Brizitsky, as well as to establish the location of the daughter-in-law of the President of the Transnistrian Moldavian Republic (PMR) Marina Smirnova, suspected of embezzlement on an especially large scale of Russian humanitarian aid allocated by Transnistria. This was reported in the department of interaction with the media of the RF IC^[5]

According to the investigation, in 2006 the Russian Federation allocated humanitarian aid to the PMR in the amount of more than 1.5 billion rubles. These funds were credited to the account indicated by the President of the Republic Igor Smirnov, in the Transnistrian Republican Bank. They could be spent only by order of I. Smirnov. During the investigation, it was established that instead of payments to pensioners, these funds under the guise of loans and loans were provided to Tiraspol Gazprombank, some of which in the amount of about 160 million rubles. was stolen. The Bank issued loans to its own managers, including Smirnov. In 2006, M.Smirnova was the President of this credit institution.

Only after identifying the facts of the theft of humanitarian aid in Transnistria was it decided to credit the funds received from Russia in subsequent years to the account of the Supreme Council of the republic.

Within the framework of the criminal case, it was established that Oleg and Marina Smirnov in 2010-2011. regularly received funds from the Cypriot company (its name was not specified in the RF IC). The total amount of funds received by them is more than $1 million. According to investigators, payments to Oleg and Marina Smirnov by a Cypriot company are a veiled form of legalization of funds received by them as a result of the theft of humanitarian aid allocated by Russia. In this regard, the actions of O. Smirnov and related persons can be additionally qualified by the investigation under other articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The case against Oleg Smirnov was initiated against the backdrop of a conflict between Moscow and the suspect's father, ex-head of the republic Igor Smirnov, who decided to run for another term contrary to the Kremlin's recommendation (State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin, who then held the post of head of the presidential administration, called his nomination a mistake).

As reported, Oleg Smirnov (who also has Russian citizenship) was not interrogated. At the end of November, Russian media wrote that he was in Cyprus. In this regard, the UK announced its intention to put Smirnov on the international wanted list through Interpol. The publication "Moscow News" noted that if Oleg Smirnov is in Transnistria, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic may refuse to extradite him. To do this, the former banker needs to ask the Transnistrian authorities for political asylum.

1992: General Lebed defends Transnistrian independence

June 19, 1992 begins a large-scale military action of Moldova in Bender, called the "Trojan Horse." Guards, Cossacks and militias came to the aid of a peaceful city. On this day, a group of 31 Cossacks was sent to defend the city executive committee.

Heavy equipment opposed the lightly armed Transnistrians. For many hours, the building was fired upon by heavy machine guns. At the end of the attack, Moldavian forces fired a volley from Rapira, an anti-tank gun.

Vitaly Bondarchuk, ataman of the Cheka 1992-1994: "When we were offered to surrender in Bender, they shouted - Cossacks, give up, you are not enough, you cannot get out! Our response was unequivocal, not to advertise. Nobody was going to give up.'

Then General of the Airborne Forces Alexander Lebed takes the stage. He was appointed to lead the 14th Army, which had been stationed in Transnistria since Soviet times. The swan violates Moscow's instructions on neutrality and inflicts several targeted strikes on the Moldovan troops. As a result, he seeks a ceasefire and peace negotiations. The war claims about 1.5 thousand lives. The 14th Army becomes a brigade of CIS peacekeepers. Transnistria, and the unrecognized, nevertheless receives actual independence.

1990: Declaration of independence from Moldova

In the late 1980s, national movements flourished in the weakening USSR. In Moldova, they require a sharp rapprochement, and, possibly, unification with ethnically close Romania. In Transnistria against - mainly Russians and Ukrainians live there. In 1990, Tiraspol declares independence from Chisinau and asks to recognize itself as a separate republic of the USSR. Moscow is unable to solve the problem.

1941: Red Army man Hitler

In the Great Patriotic War, the Red Army machine gunner Semyon Konstantinovich Hitler, a Jew by nationality, took part.

The award sheet according to which Hitler was presented for the medal has been preserved.

During the defense of 174.5 heights of the Tiraspol fortified region, Semyon Konstantinovich destroyed more than a hundred Wehrmacht soldiers with machine gun fire. Having used up ammunition, having been wounded and being surrounded, the Red Army soldier, without throwing his weapons, got out to his own.

For this feat, Hitler was awarded the medal "For Courage."

1939: Unification with Bessarabia and the creation of Moldova

Map of the Ukrainian SSR and Moldavian ASSR in 1939

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939 will allow the left bank to unite with Bessarabia. Moreover, for the first time in history, the right and left banks of the Dniester will be united and called Moldova. The lands will be redrawn on a Bolshevik scale: some historical Moldovan territories will be given to Ukraine, and the Ukrainian, on the contrary, will be included in the new republic. It was believed that in a united country, this does not matter, as well as the fact that the national majority on the right bank was Moldovans, but not on the left.

1924: Separation from Ukraine into a separate subject of MASSR

In 1924, the left bank of the Dniester will be separated into a separate entity, calling the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The decision was explained, as they would now say, by geopolitics: the border of the worlds of socialism and capitalism passed along the Dniester. But the name clearly hinted at the desire of the USSR to regain the right bank of the river.

1917: Part of Soviet Ukraine

The 1917 revolution for a long time divided the fate of the left and right banks of the Dniester. Right-bank Bessarabia was annexed by Romania. Left-bank Transnistria became part of Soviet Ukraine.

Pokrovskaya Street in Tiraspol in 1912-1917 (?)

1903: Plan of Tiraspol

The city plan of Tiraspol, dating from 1903. He was discovered in the Russian archives by Vladimir Polushin and after writing the book was transferred to the Tiraspol Museum. Then in 2019, the plan, which was previously on separate sheets of A4, Rostislav Simachenko led to the same scale and sewed in a special program. For convenience of perception, he superimposed color.

1793: Accession to Russia of Northern Transnistria and the beginning of mass settlement

In 1793, when the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was divided, Russia would take Northern Transnistria in addition to the South. New territories will be added to the Ukrainian provinces of the empire and will begin to settle en masse. Transnistria will become part of a large-scale project to colonize the Wild Field - Novorossiya.

The Russian authorities encouraged the migration to Transnistria of Bulgarians, Russians, Ukrainians, Jews, Germans, Armenians, Greeks and Moldavians.

1791: Entry of Southern Transnistria into Russia under the Treaty of Yas with Turkey

On December 29, 1791, another war between Russia and Turkey ended with the Iasi Peace Treaty. He is famous for the fact that Crimea and Kuban are finally entrenched in St. Petersburg. In addition, the Russians retreated territories on the left bank of the Dniester River, known as Southern Transnistria.

At this time, due to centuries-long raids and conquests, these lands were semi-deserted - part of the steppe, which was also called the Wild Field.

1569: Northern Transnistria became part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

In 1569, after the unification of Poland and Lithuania, the left-bank Northern Transnistria became part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

1389: As part of the Golden Horde

Golden horde in 1389

600g

Languages spoken in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East in 600g (as of 2021)

640 BC: Scythians

Scythian mound model. National Museum of the History of Moldova. Chisinau

A sign in the form of Latin V was discovered in 2017 by Transnistrian archaeologists at the entrance of one of the Scythian tombs in the vicinity of the village of Glinoe.

The photo was taken in the so-called entrance well. Ahead under the sign is a small corridor to the underground room where the Scythian warrior lay.

What the bas-relief over the burial door means is still unknown. There are only assumptions: a security symbol or a sign of transition between worlds. Interestingly, such finds are found only in Transnistria, despite the fact that the Scythian world covered a huge territory from the Southern Urals to the Danube Delta.

Antique gold pendants with clusters of grapes, about 500 g BC.

This rare instance of ancient art was discovered in the late 2010s during the excavation of the Scythian tomb near the village of Glinoe. It turned out that the burial was robbed several times in ancient times. The robbers literally turned the tomb upside down, carried out absolutely everything - even the bones of the buried. But the tomb thieves did not seem to notice the miniature pendants.

Deer from the head of a war horse. This is a unique artifact for Transnistria in the Scythian animal style. He was found on the site of an old garden. The magnificent find of the 5th century BC added to the collection of the Museum of Archeology. The deer is a totemic animal of the Scythian culture. Photo: Sergey Simonenko

4500 BC: Culture of Tripolje-Cucuteni

Tripol culture is an archaeological culture of the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age (mid-5th millennium BC - 2650s BC) in Moldova, Transnistria, forest-steppe and steppes of Ukraine from the Dnieper River valley and to the west. Similar to the culture of Cucutun in Romania. The Tripolye-Kukuten culture is included in the archaeological community.

In the book of Tatyana Petrovna Pasek "Early Jewish (Tripol) tribes of the Dnieper region" it is indicated that modern culture dates back to the Tripolians, in a certain sense. For example, some ideas about female beauty, certain aesthetic canons, symbols and myths (for example, the abduction of Europe by Zeus in the guise of a bull) find analogies in Tripol work.

The opinion (K. Gadachek) was expressed about the relationship of Trypolian culture with Krito-Mycenaean. According to E. Stern, Thracians, remote (alleged) ancestors of Moldavians and a number of other peoples are also associated with the Tripolians. It is believed (E. Chernysh) that the Tripolians were dominated by a matriarchal-generic public organization.

Excavations in the 1950s attracted the attention of wide scientific circles. One reason was that it was not clear what funeral rite was practiced by the Tripolians. "All attempts to find burials for a long time remained unsuccessful" (T. Pasek). But, under random circumstances, even during the Great Patriotic War, a whole Late Trypol burial ground was discovered in Vykhvatintsy...

The result of many years of excavation was the discovery of priceless artifacts, on the basis of which a number of important conclusions were made in situ ("in situ").

In particular, it has been established that the Tripolians (at least the late ones) showed signs of developing patriarchy. The peculiarities of the funeral rite, the found inventory indicated the connections of the late Tripolians with the cattle-breeding tribes of the Bronze Age (III - beginning of II millennium BC). Thus, during the period under consideration, as it became obvious, Transnistria was a zone of intensive communication between individual tribes and cultures.

The famous anthropologist M. Gerasimov took a personal part in the excavations, reconstructing the appearance of a Tripol man and woman from the remains found. Such is quite similar to the appearance of Europeans known to us.

The Tripolians were famous as skilled potters. The products they have created still shake the perfection of artistic forms. The collection from Vykhvatintsev (age - about five thousand years) replenished the museum funds of the USSR. What is characteristic: the motives of the painting, the features of the ornament are sometimes very similar to Moldavian ones (the use of a wavy line, rhombuses, the image of the world tree...), however, as well as global ones.

T. Pasek writes: "The Tripol tribes, who settled along the Dniester from the earliest stage of the development of this culture, continued to live in their former places and in the latest period."

200 thousand hp: Neanderthals

About 200,000 years ago, during the great glaciation, the grotto near the village of Vykhvatintsy served as a refuge for Neanderthals who took refuge in it from bad weather and predators (lions, saber-toothed tigers), hunting mammoths, woolly rhinos, reindeer in the vicinity.

Nearby in Soviet times, a monument was erected with a bas-relief depicting a roundup mammoth hunt.

7.5 million hp: Oreopithecus? Hardly

Reconstruction of oreopithecus, a good-natured upright creature. Natural History Museum in Grosseto, Maremma Region, Italy.

The teeth of the oreopithecus were first found in 1872 in the Italian province of Tuscany, in layers 10-12 million years old. Later dates were clarified and the time of residence of these primates is called the period - 7.5-7.6 million. In 1908, near Tiraspol, in Moldova, finds were also found classified as oreopithecus teeth, but, apparently, this was a mistake by^[6]. In 1958, in the south of Tuscany, an almost entirely preserved skeleton of oreopithecus was discovered in layers of brown coal at a depth of 180 meters, which allowed scientists to reconstruct the appearance of this creature ^[7]].

Later, scientists determined that the habitat of the oreopithecus was extremely small - a piece of the western coast of Italy (north of Rome, but south of Florence) and Sardinia. In the late Miocene, these areas were an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The island was original: it was covered with marshy forests - they became the coal in which the remains of oreopithecus are now found.

The oreopithecus walked on two legs, the forehead was sloping and the supraorbital roller was developed even more strongly than that of chimpanzees; however, the facial department came forward less than that of the current great apes, it looked more like a human face than a bestial face...

See also

• Moldova

Notes