„We saw with our own eyes what the Russians are capable of. Wherever they go, dust is left behind,” says Sergiu Tataru, a veteran of the 1992 Transnistrian war. 34 years after the last confrontation between Moldovans and Russians, HotNews spoke to two of the combatants, both Romanian citizens, who fought against Russian troops.
In 1992, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Moldova faced an armed conflict in the Transnistrian region. Separatist leaders there, supported by Russia and the 14th Army stationed in the area, rose up against the authorities in Chisinau.
Romania condemned Transnistrian separatism and Russia’s involvement at the time and supported the Moldovan authorities in the fight. Several Romanian volunteers also went to the front on the side of the forces in Chisinau. The fighting took place in several towns on the banks of the Dniester River and ended in the summer of 1992 with a ceasefire, but Russian troops have remained in Transnistria to this day.
Who are the two Romanians?
On March 2, 1992, Vasile Lupu was a criminal investigation officer at the Ungheni Police Inspectorate. Along with other police officers from the city, he was sent to participate in the defense of the city of Tighina.
Sergiu Tătaru was in Russia, at work, when the war began. Returning home, he enlisted in a carabinieri battalion formed in Ungheni and quickly arrived on the front line, in Coșnița, one of the towns where heavy fighting took place in that conflict. Today, the two believe that the solution to resist the Russian threat is the unification of Romania with the Republic of Moldova.
„The Russian thinks that where he stepped is his land”
HotNews: You were combatants in the last Romanian-Russian war, in 1992, in Transnistria. What messages did Russia spread before the confrontation?
Sergiu Tătaru: There was only one thing speculated: that Romania would seize the Republic of Moldova and that all foreigners here would be persecuted. This was the fear instilled in the population, and the messages were addressed especially to Bulgarians or Russians. Of course, by playing on these feelings, Russia aroused a kind of repulsion towards Romania, towards Romanians, but also towards the population on the left side of the Prut.
Many people believed this propaganda. And this is because we learned a different history at school, which said that Romanians are our enemies, those who invaded us, together with Nazi Germany. No one ever told us that Romanians are our brothers, that mom and dad are across the Prut. You know, the history of Moldova is a thin booklet, which includes the Tatarbunar uprising (a Bolshevik-inspired uprising in the town of Tatarbunar, now in Ukraine, which demanded unification with the Ukrainian SSR and the end of the “Romanian occupation in Bessarabia”, ed.), the story of Pavel Tcacenco (Russian leader of the communist movement in Romania in the 1920s, ed.), about revolutionaries and about how the revolution was exported from Moscow to Moldova.
Vasile Lupu: Some Moldovans, our Bessarabians, to this day, still have not understood who the Russian is and continue to have this nostalgia for the Soviet Union. We, those who have gone through this ordeal, can say who the Russian is and what he can do. I tell you, if he reaches a territory, he considers that where he stepped is his land.
– You fought at Tighina against the Russian-backed fighters…
Vasile Lupu: We were practically a kilometer away from each other. From there they were shooting at us continuously. They had all come from nowhere from Russia – we can say this because we had the opportunity to catch some of them. They would confuse the fighting positions and, instead of hitting them, they would reach us. And they would tell us that they had come to fight against the Romanians. You see, from the depths of Russia, I remember, from Tula, Ryazan, Rostov-on-Don.
„We will have breakfast in Tiraspol, lunch in Chisinau and dinner in Bucharest”
– Russia said it was acting in defense of the Russian-speaking population of Transnistria, was the official explanation. Does this seem like similar rhetoric to what we find in Ukraine today?
Vasile Lupu: It is the same unfounded pretext to justify those ambitions of conquest. They are taught to conquer a territory, to graze the horses as long as there is grass to graze there, and then to move on. That is specific to this nation, which I have never loved.
Sergiu Tătaru: I would like every Romanian to understand that we are speaking, as witnesses, about the purpose and the plan of the Russians. We saw with our own eyes what they are capable of. We fought in a war in which 300 or so boys died. It was a war of national liberation, in which we defended the most sacred things: the language, the tricolor and the ancestral land, which rightfully belong to us. We fought with the strongest army of Russia. The 14th Army was considered the strongest at the time. And it is still on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. On Romanian territory.
Who do yo think was in Tiraspol at that time, leading this gang? General Aleksandr Lebed, who came from Russia, after fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. He had been deployed to us because the Russians thought he would scare us. He said: "We will have breakfast in Tiraspol, lunch in Chisinau and dinner in Bucharest". Our commander in Tighina replied at the time: before reaching Chisinau, Bucharest, you must first pass through us.
These people are still on our land to this day. It hurts us, because so many boys died then that we are mentioning today. The Dubăsari police station was taken prisoner, and the 30 boys they found there were imprisoned in a small 2x3m room in Tiraspol. A cage. Our national hero Ilie Ilaşcu also stayed there. They resisted, they didn't betray, they didn't give in. They were mistreated in such a way that you can't even imagine. They put them in bulletproof vests, put them against the wall and shot them with real bullets. That's the Russian, the invader, wherever he goes, he leaves dust behind. Look at what they're doing in Ukraine! They wiped out villages, entire cities, they destroyed everything. They're barbarians. If Romania hadn't existed then, I'm telling you clearly, you wouldn't be talking to us today.
„If they take Ukraine, it won't cost them anything to move on”
- What do you answer to those who say that Russia is defending its interests in Ukraine?
Sergiu Tataru: Russia is not defending its interests. Russia wants to re-establish its former empire. So to dominate all the territories that were previously conquered by it. Bessarabia, parts of Romania, Bulgaria, the Baltic countries, all are threatened by the same danger of being forcibly returned to this empire. Just as they were forcibly taken within the Soviet Union.
- Why is Transnistria kept in poverty?
Sergiu Tataru: I intuit that this territory is kept in poverty because Russia, at this moment, does not have enough forces to maintain it. All forces are directed towards supporting the front in Ukraine. On the other hand, Russia always says that it will intervene in Transnistria. They are still betting that they will be able to break the front in Ukraine, reach Odessa and then open another front, in Transnistria. That is why I intuit that Russia is betting on this territory and is not giving in.
Vasile Lupu: I think they made this plan in advance, until the invasion of Ukraine, four years ago. Putin thought that in three days he would take Kiev. Then, with the help of the army in Transnistria, to take the Odessa region as well. All in order to completely close the exit to the Black Sea. So, if Ukraine did not resist, we would have been occupied for a long time. And it is not known what the fate of Romania would be further.
They said that the Special Military Operation was related to denazification. They claimed that the Russian population was humiliated in Ukraine, that they were not allowed to speak Russian, that they were persecuted. But officials from the Russian administration say that it would also include Moldova, the Baltic countries, Poland, and so on. So we then ask ourselves a question: are all these territories they are after Nazi-occupied and need to be denazified by them? Do they all have the same hatred for the Russian people? Do they all persecute the Russian ethnic group?
– Is it your fear that, if Ukraine can no longer resist the war…
Sergiu Tataru: Next are us, together with you. All of Romania. I tell you with certainty, not jokingly. I would like everyone to understand that the Russian is no joke. And the only way out of this situation is to regroup, to reunify the Romanian country. Let us be a strong and great country, a great Romania.
Let us be prepared, let us have a strong army to fight back against the enemy. Because the Russian will arrive and pass Bucharest. Appetite comes with eating. If they take Ukraine, it won't cost them anything to move on.
„We will have breakfast in Tiraspol, lunch in Chisinau and dinner in Bucharest”
– Russia said it was acting in defense of the Russian-speaking population of Transnistria, was the official explanation. Does this seem like similar rhetoric to what we find in Ukraine today?
Vasile Lupu: It is the same unfounded pretext to justify those ambitions of conquest. They are taught to conquer a territory, to graze the horses as long as there is grass to graze there, and then to move on. That is specific to this nation, which I have never loved.
Sergiu Tătaru: I would like every Romanian to understand that we are speaking, as witnesses, about the purpose and the plan of the Russians. We saw with our own eyes what they are capable of. We fought in a war in which 300 or so boys died. It was a war of national liberation, in which we defended the most sacred things: the language, the tricolor and the ancestral land, which rightfully belong to us. We fought with the strongest army of Russia. The 14th Army was considered the strongest at the time. And it is still on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. On Romanian territory.
Who do you think was in Tiraspol at that time, leading this gang? General Aleksandr Lebed, who came from Russia, after fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. He had been deployed to us because the Russians thought he would scare us. He said: "We will have breakfast in Tiraspol, lunch in Chisinau and dinner in Bucharest". Our commander in Tighina replied at the time: before reaching Chisinau, Bucharest, you must first pass through us.
These people are still on our land to this day. It hurts us, because so many boys died then that we are mentioning today. The Dubăsari police station was taken prisoner, and the 30 boys they found there were imprisoned in a small 2x3m room in Tiraspol. A cage. Our national hero Ilie Ilaşcu also stayed there. They resisted, they didn't betray, they didn't give in. They were mistreated in such a way that you can't even imagine. They put them in bulletproof vests, put them against the wall and shot them with real bullets. That's the Russian, the invader, wherever he goes, he leaves dust behind. Look at what they're doing in Ukraine! They wiped out villages, entire cities, they destroyed everything. They're barbarians. If Romania hadn't existed then, I'm telling you clearly, you wouldn't be talking to us today.
„If they take Ukraine, it won't cost them anything to move on”
- What do you answer to those who say that Russia is defending its interests in Ukraine?
Sergiu Tataru: Russia is not defending its interests. Russia wants to re-establish its former empire. So to dominate all the territories that were previously conquered by it. Bessarabia, parts of Romania, Bulgaria, the Baltic countries, all are threatened by the same danger of being forcibly returned to this empire. Just as they were forcibly taken within the Soviet Union.
- Why is Transnistria kept in poverty?
Sergiu Tataru: I intuit that this territory is kept in poverty because Russia, at this moment, does not have enough forces to maintain it. All forces are directed towards supporting the front in Ukraine. On the other hand, Russia always says that it will intervene in Transnistria. They are still betting that they will be able to break the front in Ukraine, reach Odessa and then open another front, in Transnistria. That is why I intuit that Russia is betting on this territory and is not giving in.
Vasile Lupu: I think they made this plan in advance, until the invasion of Ukraine, four years ago. Putin thought that in three days he would take Kiev. Then, with the help of the army in Transnistria, to take the Odessa region as well. All in order to completely close the exit to the Black Sea. So, if Ukraine did not resist, we would have been occupied for a long time. And it is not known what the fate of Romania would be further.
They said that the Special Military Operation was related to denazification. They claimed that the Russian population was humiliated in Ukraine, that they were not allowed to speak Russian, that they were persecuted. But officials from the Russian administration say that it would also include Moldova, the Baltic countries, Poland, and so on. So we then ask ourselves a question: are all these territories they are after Nazi-occupied and need to be denazified by them? Do they all have the same hatred for the Russian people? Do they all persecute the Russian ethnic group?
– Is it your fear that, if Ukraine can no longer resist the war…
Sergiu Tataru: Next are us, together with you. All of Romania. I tell you with certainty, not jokingly. I would like everyone to understand that the Russian is no joke. And the only way out of this situation is to regroup, to reunify the Romanian country. Let us be a strong and great country, a great Romania.
Let us be prepared, let us have a strong army to fight back against the enemy. Because the Russian will arrive and pass Bucharest. Appetite comes with eating. If they take Ukraine, it won't cost them anything to move on.
– What do you answer to those who say that Russia is defending its interests in Ukraine?
Sergiu Tataru: Russia is not defending its interests. Russia wants to re-establish its former empire. So to dominate all the territories that were previously conquered by it. Bessarabia, parts of Romania, Bulgaria, the Baltic countries, all are threatened by the same danger of being forcibly returned to this empire. Just as they were forcibly taken within the Soviet Union.
– Why is Transnistria kept in poverty?
Sergiu Tataru: I intuit that this territory is kept in poverty because Russia, at this moment, does not have enough forces to maintain it. All forces are directed towards supporting the front in Ukraine. On the other hand, Russia always says that it will intervene in Transnistria. They are still betting that they will be able to break the front in Ukraine, reach Odessa and then open another front in Transnistria. That's why I sense that Russia is betting on this territory and is not giving in.
Vasile Lupu: I think they made this plan in advance, until the invasion of Ukraine four years ago. Putin thought that in three days he would take Kiev. Then, with the help of the Transnistrian army, he would take the Odessa region as well. All this to completely close the exit to the Black Sea. So, if Ukraine did not resist, we would have been occupied for a long time. And it is not known what the fate of Romania would be further.
They said that the Special Military Operation was related to denazification. They claimed that the Russian population was humiliated in Ukraine, that they were not allowed to speak Russian, that they were persecuted. However, officials from the Russian administration say that it would also include Moldova, the Baltic countries, Poland and so on. So we ask ourselves a question: are all these territories that they are yearning for, are they Nazified and need to be denazified by them? Do they all have the same hatred for the Russian people? Do they all persecute the Russian ethnic group?
– Is it your fear that, if Ukraine can no longer resist the war…
Sergiu Tătaru: Next are us, with you together. All of Romania. I tell you with certainty, not jokingly. I would like everyone to understand that the Russian is no joke. And the only way out of this situation is to regroup, to regroup the Romanian country. Let us be a strong and great country, a great Romania.
Let us be prepared, let us have a strong army to retaliate against the enemy. Because the Russian will reach and pass Bucharest. Appetite comes with eating. If they take Ukraine, it will cost them nothing to move on.
And, unfortunately, we find that there are a lot of traitors in Bucharest, too, who tell us that we can live well with the Russians. And that scares us very much.
Article source: [online] [citat 02.04.26]. Available: : hotnews.ro.
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