The de facto states in the former Soviet Union established the effective rules of the territories throughout warfare. When the Soviet Union disintegrated, South Ossetia in Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan and Transnistria in Moldova claimed independence from each republic. The republics have not reigned these regions to this day. These divided areas have claimed independence, but have failed to gain international recognition. As a result these regions have become the de facto states. Transnistria is of special interest in these entities. Although Transnistria did not become the autonomous republic in the Soviet Union, this region was able to establish “state”. How Transnistria did build the de facto state during the disintegration of the Soviet Union?
The purpose of this article is to analyze the political process of the state building in Transnistria. I especially focus on the United Council of Work Collectives, known by its Russian acronym OSTK (Ob’edinennyi Soyuz Trudovykh Kollektivov). OSTK took the initiative to separate from Moldova. Previous studies have analyzed diplomatic and military assistance from Russia to Transnistria, autonomous systems in Soviet Union and so forth. However previous literatures have paid little attention to internal political process and the agency which led to Transnistria’s de facto separation. In this article, I examine the movement of OSTK about the session from Moldova under the condition that Moldova also separated from the Soviet Union.
This article first analyzes the formation of OSTK and the protest against the laws of the language. OSTK was composed of work collectives and established in Tiraspol. Then I conduct process tracing about the state building in Transnistria with a focus on the idea of OSTK. This plan became clearer in connection with the disintegration of the Soviet Union and separation of Moldova from the Soviet Union. Especially after the referendum to remain within the Soviet Union in Transnistria, the idea of OSTK was decided on the formation of the new republic within the Soviet Union.
However this was different position from Moldova. Moldova decided independence from the Soviet Union. The gap between Transnistria and Moldova did not fill even after the Transnistria conflict broke out. I also point out that the idea of OSTK justified military intervention from Russia during Transnistria conflict. In this conflict Moldova could not sovereign Transnistria and signed the cease fire agreement. As a result this gap has been frozen. The Conflict has not unresolved and Transnistria survived to this day as the de facto state.