"Kosovo domino effect means independence for Transdniester too" - Russia

Russia's military chief of staff Yury Baluevsky made it clear that Pridnestrovie gets recognition if Kosovo does. (File photo)

MOSCOW (Tiraspol Times) - Russia's military chief of staff, Yury Baluevsky, says if Kosovo's independence becomes a reality, three other frozen conflict zones will get independence, too.

" - If we cross the Rubicon and Kosovo gains independent status tomorrow, frankly speaking, I expect this independence to echo in other regions as well, including those close to Russia's borders. You perfectly understand what I mean - I mean Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transdniester," Baluevsky said.

In the past, Transdniestria was always separate from Moldova. When the Soviet Union was founded, Moldova was part of Romania and Transdniestria was created as an autonomous republic inside the Ukrainian SSR, with Tiraspol as its capital.

Transdniestria's autonomous status lasted until 1940, when World War II broke out and Hitler signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin. Under a secret chapter of the Pact, the two dictators agreed that the Soviet Union could take Moldova away from Romania and add it to the already-existing autonomous republic (ASSR) with Transdniestria.

In the expansion process, the status of the ASSR was upgraded to full union republic (SSR) inside the Soviet Union, the capital was moved to Chisinau and its name was changed. The result - the Moldavian SSR - was the forced marriage of Moldova and Transdniestria, under orders given by Stalin.

The experiment lasted until 1990, when Transdniestria declared independence. Moldova declared independence one year later, in 1991. In its independence declaration, Moldova renounced the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact as having been "null and void" from the beginning, and declared the immediate reversal of "all of its political and legal consequences."

Never part of Moldova

Before the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Transdniestria was never Romanian or Moldovan land at any time in history. Nor have Moldovans or Romanians ever made up the majority of the population, which has always been majority Slavic and predominantly Russian-speaking.

Despite Moldova's official annulment of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the country continues to maintain a territorial claim to Transdniestria, an area that was only joined with Moldova inside the Soviet Union as a result of the Pact and by Stalin's use of force.

Transdniestria's own calls for independence have until now gone unheeded in Moldova, where the Communist-led regime continues to ignore referendum results showing that sovereign statehood and independence is what people living in Transdniestria want.

Transdniestria, also known as Transnistria or Transdniester, and officially called Pridnestrovie according to its constitution, already meets the requirements for statehood under international law. As a disputed territory, its "de facto" sovereign status has not been recognized "de jure" by the international community.

See also:
» Former ASSR Pridnestrovie reminds Moldova: "You yourself denounced our union"
» Moldova: Only to the Dniester
» Chisinau orgs demand end to Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

Opinion and commentary:
» Canadian government advisor: "Transdniestr trapped in Stalin's cartography"