As Moldova moved toward independence and closer ties with Romania, the mainly Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking population on the left bank of the Dniester declared the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. Fighting escalated in 1992, with Russia's locally stationed 14th Guards Army intervening on the separatist side; a ceasefire that July left Russian troops stationed in the territory. An estimated 100,000-130,000 people were displaced, and Transnistria has remained a Russian-backed, internationally unrecognized breakaway territory ever since, despite a 1999 OSCE commitment by Russia to withdraw its forces.
Transnistrian separatists, backed by Russia's 14th Guards Army, fought Moldovan government forces over the mainly Russian/Ukrainian-speaking left bank of the Dniester
The last Soviet census recorded roughly 679,000 people in the districts that became the self-declared Transnistrian republic, in a Moldovan SSR of 4.34 million; the population was mixed, with Moldovans the largest single group ahead of Ukrainians and Russians.
Standard compilations put the toll at 'nearly one thousand' killed with about 3,000 wounded; the component military figures are 279-324 Moldovan and 364-913 Transnistrian dead, the Transnistrian span being wide because separatist force strength and losses were never independently audited. Moldovan and Transnistrian authorities each present the other side as responsible for civilian deaths in Bender.
The Russian Human Rights Center 'Memorial' documented Moldovan forces firing heavy machine guns at houses, courtyards and cars in Bender and Transnistrian forces beating and torturing captured Moldovan prisoners.
Moldova