Մերձդնեստրի հակամարտություն. ակունք, էություն և հեռանկարներ/Transnistria Conflict: Origin, Nature and Prospects

Abstract

Although the disintegration of the Soviet Union was relatively peaceful, unlike, for example, another socialist state with confederal structure – Yugoslavia, the independence aspirations of individual regions were often accompanied by armed struggle, which later transformed into "frozen conflicts" and turned into ‘’mines’’ placed under the statehood of a number of post-Soviet countries, thus preventing and hindering their development and threatening the regional stability and peace. The Transnistrian conflict is one of the unresolved conflicts in the post-Soviet territory, the basis of which is the struggle of the minority for the recognition and realization of its right to self-determination. Within the framework of this paper, the origins and essence of the Transnistrian conflict will be presented. Moreover, the gist of all important international agreements related to the conflict are illustrated one by one. Afterwards, parallels are drawn between Transnistria and Gagauzian autonomy: two conflicts that arose due to similar reasons and in the same country, which eventually had different outcomes. At the end of the research, two most likely scenarios are discussed for the further development of the Transnistrian conflict.