Moldova declared independence from the Soviet Union on 27 August 1991.
Previously, the region of Transdniester (also called the “Transnistrian
Moldovan Republic,” or PMR - Pridnestrovskaya Moldavskaya Respublika) had
declared independence from Moldova on 2 September 1990. Forces from Moldova and
the PMR battled each other in 1992 in a conflict in which both sides used
antipersonnel mines. Peacekeeping forces (with Russian, Belarussian, and
Ukrainian troops) have been in Moldova since July 1992.
The Russian (Soviet) 14th Army has been based in the Transdniester region of
Moldova since 1956. The stockpile of Russian arms and ammunition in the
Transdniester region is huge, reportedly containing 500,000 tons of weaponry ,
including landmines, worth $20 billion. The stockpiles are said to be poorly
guarded, and thus easily
accessible.[2] The Russian 14th
Army reportedly has provided the Transdniestrian separatists with large amounts
of weapons, including mines, as well as training facilities and financial
support.[3] Russia and Moldova
signed an agreement in October 1994 on the withdrawal of the 14th Army from
Transdniester, but the Russian government balked at ratifying it, and another
stalemate ensued. PMR forces denounced the
agreement.[4] Russia apparently
deems Transdniester as a key to the Balkans and will not give up its military
presence. The PMR leadership has tried to get special status for the PMR as a
part of Russia. Talks have continued to try to settle the status of the
Transdniester region, but as yet no to avail. The OSCE believes that
Transdniester should not be recognized as an independent state but be granted
some form of special status with
autonomy.[5]
Mine Ban Policy
Moldova signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December
1997. It has not yet ratified it. Moldova was not active in the Ottawa Process,
and did not participate in the treaty negotiations in Oslo. But it did endorse
the pro-treaty Brussels Declaration in June 1997, and voted in favor of the
pro-ban UN General Assembly resolutions in 1996, 1997, and 1998. It is not a
state party to the 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Production
Although Transdniester is not recognized as an
independent state, it must be distinguished from Moldova with respect to arms
production. The Moldovan government is not believed to produce landmines.
However, Moldova has accused Transdniester of producing its own arms, including
antipersonnel mines. Arms factories located in Ribnita, Tiraspol, and Tighina
were part of the Soviet Union’s military supply complex and are continuing
to produce weapons, Moldovan officials
claim.[6] The Transdniester
government admitted that it did produce arms in order “to maintain the
same military footing with
Moldova.”[7]
Transfer
The Moldovan government is not known to have
imported or exported antipersonnel landmines, but inherited stocks from the
USSR. The Russian 14th Army has provided the PMR separatists with mines. The
PMR may in turn have supplied mines to others; it has allegedly provided support
to Abkhazia against Georgia, and the Krajina Serbs against
Croatia.[8]
Stockpiling
According to the government, Moldova’s
national army has approximately 12,000
mines.[9] The number of mines
in the PMR stockpile is unknown, but likely in the thousands. Types of
antipersonnel mines thought to be in Moldovan/Transdniester arsenals include:
PMN, PMN-2, PMN-4, OZM-72, MON-50, MON-90, MON-100, MON-200, KSF-ls, PFM-ls, and
POM-2s.[10]
Mines are also in the hands of criminals. In 1998, grenades and mines were
used in twenty-five cases of burglary or other
crimes.[11]
The Russian 14th Army has destroyed obsolete munitions located in its
stockpiles in the Transdniester region. In November 1995, the Army destroyed
eighty landmines manufactured between 1941 and 1945, and planned to destroy
another 400 tons of old mines and
shells.[12] In 1996, over 4,500
mines and missiles made between 1937 and 1941 were destroyed in Transdniester.
The administration in Tiraspol (Transdniester) has protested continuing this
destruction because of the ecological
damage.[13] The Russian
Army’s arsenal at Kolbasna, one of the largest in
Europe,[14] may have 100,000
tons of mines, artillery shells, rockets, and grenades of WWII vintage, many of
which are stored in easily accessible
areas.[15] Russian troops have
made plans to ship some of the weapons to Russia, although both Moldova and
Transdniester want the weapons to remain.
Mine Clearance
According to a 1994 U.S. State Department report,
a tripartite control commission, consisting of Russia, Moldova, and the
Transdniester, began to demine the conflict zone, with hopes of completing
clearance operations by the end of
1994.[16] This did not happen,
but the current status is unclear. In May 1998, the Foreign Ministry said that,
of the 72 kilometers of land affected by mines, all but 15 kilometers have been
cleared.[17] In January 1999 a
Moldovan Foreign Ministry spokesman said that eighty hectares of Moldova are
strewn with mines, and another seventy need to be
checked.[18] In 1994, the U.S.
State Department estimated 200 hectares were mine
infested.[19] Another source
states that Transdniester has cleared 34% of its
landmines.[20] The U.S. has
offered to help Moldova clear its remaining minefields. In January 1999, U.S.
officials met with Moldovan officials to discuss the removal of weapons from
Transdniester and mine clearance.
Landmine Casualties
According to the Moldovan Foreign Ministry, during
1992 and 1993, two Moldovan peacekeepers were killed and eight injured, one
Russian peacekeeper was wounded, and one Transdniestrian peacekeeper was killed
and six wounded by landmines. Four civilians were killed and ten
injured.[21] In December 1994,
the U.S. reported that mines had killed four and wounded over 50 in the past
year.[22] There is no
information available about special assistance provided to landmine survivors.
[1]
Information for this section was taken from Dr. Trevor Waters, “Moldova:
Continuing Recipe for Instability,” Jane’s Intelligence
Review, 1 September 1996.
[2] “Moldova: Sides
Locked in Dispute over Russian Arsenal in Dnestr Region,” BBC
Monitoring International Reports, 31 January 1999.
[3] Waters, “Moldova:
Continuing Recipe for Instability.”
[4] “Moldova:
Transdniester’s Arsenals ‘Largest in Europe,’
Unguarded,” FBIS, FBIS-UMA-99-033, 2 February 1999.
[5] “OSCE Views
Dniester Option,” FBIS, FBIS-SOV-98-128, 8 May 1998.
[9] Vladimir Lupan, Foreign
Ministry of Moldova, Statement made at the First International Conference on
Landmines in Russia and the CIS, Moscow, 27-28 May 1998.