The international legal status of the Transdniestrian Moldavian Republic

In 1990, the Transnistrian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed on the territory of the left-bank part, as well as some adjacent right-bank territories of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova as the successor of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic , which existed as part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924-1940. This act was immediately declared invalid by the then President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev . On August 25, 1991, the Supreme Council of the Primary Soviet Socialist Republic adopted the "Declaration of Independence of the Primary Soviet Socialist Republic" Two days later, on August 27, 1991, the Supreme Council of the Moldavian SSR adopted Law No. 691 On the Declaration of Independence. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991, Moldova became independent and was recognized by other states within the borders of the Soviet Socialist Republic (including Transnistria ). The PMR party noted that the Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Moldova was not thought out in that it recognized the USSR law of August 2, 1940 "On the formation of a union Moldavian SSR" invalid. The PMR party claims that the Moldovans themselves thus abandoned Transnistria, since its territory never belonged to either Moldova or Romania until the creation of the MSSR.

In 1992, during the Transnistrian conflict, the authorities of the Republic of Moldova annexed several Transnistrian villages with a predominantly Moldovan population.

Transdniestria has all the necessary features of statehood , the most important of which is the presence of a system of state authorities and administrations formed in the manner established by law of Transdniestria ^{[2] [3] [4]} .

A study by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York states that the PMR does not have statehood because of its unrecognized nature and is a de facto regime ^[5] .

The Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed as a Soviet republic within the USSR at the 2nd Extraordinary Congress of Deputies of all levels of Transnistria, held in Tiraspol on September 2, 1990 . On December 22, 1990, USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev signed a decree “On Measures to Normalize the Situation in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova”, ordering the dissolution of the Gagauz Republic and the Transnistrian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic ^[6] .

On August 25, 1991, the Supreme Council of the Primorsky Soviet Socialist Republic adopted the "Declaration of Independence of the Primary Soviet Socialist Republic", while the Constitution of the USSR and the legislation of the USSR were preserved in the territory of Transnistria.

On August 27, 1991, the Supreme Council of the Moldavian SSR adopted Law No. 691 “On the Declaration of Independence”, which announced the withdrawal of the Republic of Moldova from the USSR. The law did not provide Transdniestria with the right to self-determination ^[7] .

Lawyers of the PMR deduce the legality of the declaration of independence of the PMR from the fact that the Moldovan Law “On the Declaration of Independence” declared the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact illegal and unenforceable, and, as a result, the Law on Education adopted on August 2, 1940 at the VII session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Allied Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic from parts of the territory of Bessarabia and the MASSR , which included the modern territory of Transnistria (without the city of Bender ). According to lawyers of the PMR, recognition of the creation of the Moldavian SSR as illegal led to the recognition of illegal and the inclusion of the left-bank territory of Transnistria.

A study by the New York City Bar Association refutes this conclusion, indicating that the loss of legal force by law does not mean a return of the existing political system to the state at the time of its adoption, especially when the law determines territorial changes ^[5] .

The position of the PMR is based on the fact that voluntarily refusing to be the legal successor of the Moldavian SSR and generally denying the legality of the latter, the Republic of Moldova, which recognized the historical continuity from the Moldavian principality (which never included the left bank of the Dniester), thus became a new state on the territory of the former MSSR, proclaimed on the basis of the right of nations to self-determination, and not on the basis of the legislation of the USSR declaring the sovereign right to secession of any union republic from the USSR ^[8] . At the time of the declaration of independence of the Republic of Moldova, not the entire territory of the former MSSR was free from the claims of other entities, since two days before that the Declaration of Independence of the Transdniestrian Moldavian Republic was adopted, that is, another entity that also designated only its historical continuity (from the Moldavian ASSR, which was part of in the Ukrainian SSR). Thus, both states proclaimed on the territory of the former MSSR voluntarily refused to be its successors, depriving themselves of the right to claim the sovereign borders of MSSR. The Declaration of Independence of Moldova does not contain any legally valid justification for the claims of this state on the left-bank part of the former MSSR, since it contains only the wording that Transnistria has long been populated by Moldovans and has been an integral part of the historical and ethnic territory of our people . Even if we do not take into account the ethnic composition of the population of Transnistria and the historical relationship of its territory with the Moldavian states, one way or another, there are no international standards that allow only ethnic and historical factors to be considered a sufficient legal justification for territorial claims.

Speaking on June 13, 2017 in Oxford, the PMR President Vadim Krasnoselsky voiced the theses confirming the official position. The issue of succession of the Republic of Moldova from the Moldavian SSR was raised. According to Krasnoselsky, the existence of the PMR does not contradict the fact that the world community recognizes the independence of the former Soviet republics of the USSR within their borders, since "when the USSR collapsed, based on the decision of the Moldovan parliament, the MSSR no longer existed." It is indicated that the Moldovan authorities voluntarily refused to recognize the legality of the existence of the MSSR, and therefore, when proclaiming independence, they did not use the right of the union republic to secede from the USSR, but the right of peoples to self-determination. Thus, according to Krasnoselsky, “modern Moldova withdrew not only from the USSR, but also from the MSSR, and this happened a year before the collapse of the Soviet Union. <...> And if we recognize the states within the borders of the Soviet Union, then we must recognize that both Transnistria and Moldova are independent. ”

According to representatives of the PMR, the formation of the Transnistrian Moldavian Republic was fully consistent with the laws and requirements of international law that existed at that time (1991) ^[2] . Its supporters call the basis for the creation of the PMR humanistic, civil and multi-ethnic principles, contrasting them with the nationalist motives of the formation of the Republic of Moldova ^{[2] [9]} .

Not a single state that is a member of the UN recognizes the statehood and sovereignty of the PMR in the territory under its control, which is considered by them the constitutional part of the Republic of Moldova . Nevertheless, after the Moldovan government almost completely lost control of Transnistria as a result of the Transnistrian conflict , the actual power in the region belongs to the Transnistrian government ^{[10] [11]} . The legitimacy of the power of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic is recognized only by the Commonwealth of Unrecognized States of which it is a member.

States that officially recognize the independence of the PMR

Since the republic was proclaimed, its de facto authorities held 7 referenda and 6 times - parliamentary and presidential elections ^[16] . Elections were held on a majority basis ^[17] . Based on the results of these elections, Transnistrian sources state that the Transnistrian authorities are elected by the people ^[18] . However, the majority of recognized states and international organizations, in particular, Moldova , Ukraine , the European Union and the OSCE , do not recognize the legality of these elections, due to the unrecognized TMR and, accordingly, the legality of the bodies formed by the election ^{[19] [20]} .

Sociological studies conducted by the PMR authorities showed that the prevailing public opinion of the Transnistrians is aimed at maintaining independence from Moldova ^[21] .

On May 16, 2001, the Presidents of Transnistria and Moldova ratified the Protocol on the mutual recognition of documents issued by the competent authorities of the Parties on the territory of Transnistria and the Republic of Moldova. This protocol confirms the mutual recognition in the territory of Transnistria and the Republic of Moldova of the validity of documents issued by the competent authorities of the parties: driver’s licenses, certificates of civil registration, education certificates, identification cards, etc. ^[22]

In fact, this document means for the citizens of Transdniestria the legitimacy of documents issued to them by the Transnistrian authorities in other countries on the basis of the recognition of these documents as national documents of Moldova ^[22] . Including, for example, a driver’s license issued to a citizen of the PMR in the traffic police must be accepted as a national traffic inspector of another state. In particular, in Russia, according to Art. 44 Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 808 of November 21, 2001, in the Russian Federation, persons temporarily staying on its territory have the right to drive vehicles with an international or foreign national driver’s license that meets the requirements of the 1968 Convention on Road Traffic, the entries in which are made or duplicated by the letters of the Latin alphabet.