Military Strength
By 1992, Moldova had troops under the Ministry of the Interior. On 17 March 1992, they started recruiting troops for the newly created Ministry of Defence. By July 1992, total Moldovan troop strength has been estimated at 25,000-35,000, including called-up policemen, reservists and volunteers, especially but not only from the Moldavian villages near the conflict zone.
In addition to Soviet weaponry inherited upon independence, Moldova also obtained arms from Romania. Romania also sent military advisors and volunteers to aid Moldova during the conflict.
At the same time, the Russian 14th Guards Army in Moldovan territory numbered about 14,000 professional soldiers. The PMR authorities had 9,000 militiamen trained and armed by officers of the 14th Army. The volunteers came from the Russian Federation: a number of Don, Kuban, Orenburg, Sibir and local Transnistrian Black Sea Cossacks joined in to fight alongside the separatists. Due to the irregular makeup of the forces, troop strength of the PMR is in dispute, but it is generally acceptedthat it was as large, if not larger, than the Moldovan forces, as shown by the fact that the PMR forces were able to repel Moldova in the fighting near Bendery and partially near Dubăsari.
Forces of the 14th Army (which had owed allegiance to the USSR, CIS and the Russian Federation in turn) stationed in Transnistria, had fought with and on behalf of the PMR forces. A significant portion of the personnel of the Russian 14th Army were local conscripts and officers that had been given local residence. PMR units were able to arm themselves with weapons taken from the stores of the former 14th Army. The Russian troops chose not to oppose the PMR units who had come to help themselves from the Army’s stores; on the contrary, in many cases they helped the PMR troops equip themselves by handing over weapons and by opening up the ammunition stores to them.
In December 1991, the Moldovan authorities arrested Lieutenant-General Yakovlev in Ukrainian territory, accusing him of helping the PMR forces to arm themselves by using the weapons stocks of the 14th Army. At that time, General Yakovlev has been both Commander of the 14th Army and "Head of the National Defence and Security Department" of the PMR. The government of the Russian Federation interceded with the Moldovan government to obtain the release of General Yakovlev in exchange for 26 policemen detained by PMR forces at the start of the fighting in Dubăsari.
On 5 April 1992, Vice-President Rutskoy of Russia, in a speech delivered to 5,000 people in Tiraspol, encouraged the Transnistrian people to obtain their independence.
Read more about this topic: War Of Transnistria
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