After the ousting of Geor gian president Gamsakhurdia, a new civil war is threatened in the republics of the ex-USSR. A creeping putsch' is taking place in eastern Moldova (formerly Moldavia), in the five administrative districts around the city of Tiraspolthe so-called Left Bank of the river Dniester.
In this predominantly Russian-speaking area local militias and army units have seized government buildings nd proclaimed the existence of a 'Dniester Republic The Dniester Republic leaders proclaim their adherence to old-style Soviet communism. Local reports say they have wide popular sup herd in the Lenin Square in Tiraspol to oppose privatisa ion of industry and demand the maintenance of the USSR.
Coup
The attempted August 1991 coup in the USSR was enthusiastically supported by CP leaders and military officials in castern Moldova. The area is heavily militarised, a centre for many army units and arms In 1989 a pogrom was carried out against Armenians living in the Azeri capital Baku. Moscow used this as an excuse to intervene with a massive and murderous show of force, in which hundreds were killed - an ac tion which drove many Azeris into the arms of the uitranationalist Popular Front.
But in the wake of this attack, with the Azeri Stalinist leaders firmly in power, Moscow utilised the notorious OMON nternal security police, and <GB troops, to aid the terro: being waged against Armenian villages on the borders of the enclave. production factories.
The moves towards setting up a Uniester Keppie starter in September 1990 when Moldovan leaders in the capital Chisinau expressed their support for independence. Communist leaders in Tiraspol accused Moldovan nationalists of 'dismantling socialism' and "liquidating Soviet power.
Armed workers
In response the Dniester leaders organised workers armed detachments based on the factories to fight against independence. These workers' units have since become a fully fledged "Republican Guard', led by professional officers.
In the wake of the defeated neo-Stalinist the Dniester communist leaders began a process of taking over government buildings, using armed 'workers detachments' In December they extended their actions to Bendery, town on the right bank of the Dniester, in an attempt to extend the boundaries of their republic In the south Moldovan area of Gaguaz. power has also been seized by Stalinist forces, and it seems likely that the two areas will attempt to link up. thus effectively seizing swathe of southern and castThe Azerbaijan leaders were sympathetic to last August's Gorbachev had calculated that it was better to support theapparently more 'loya!' against ine Armeans.
The tragedy of this new situadecades the mainly Orthodox Christian Armenians and the Muslim Azeris have lived in peace, with many villages being mixed, and Baku having a substantial Armenian population.
Today the conflict over Ngorno Karabakh is coming to a terrible conclusion. Every day artillery shells and rockets fall in the capital Stepanakert, with a ern Moldovan territory.
Units from the Fourteenth Army have Increasingly weighed in to give support to the Republican Guard The Stalinist enclave in Moldova has become a focal point of support from neo-Stalinist and Russian nationalist forces throughout the ex-U55k.
Units of the notorious OMON internal security police are reported to have gone there from the Baltic to fight with the Republican Guard. Extreme Russian nationalist forces have promised volunteer brigades republic Cautious The Moldovan government has been extremely cautious about a direct military confrontation with the Dniester rebels. However, the growing geographical spread of the enclave makes a direct confrontation almost inevitable.
The Dniester area backs directly on to the southern Ukraine, constituting an obvious threat to stability in the newlyindependent republic. Dniester forces could thus be effectively trapped in a pincer movement if a military conflict ring of troops tightening their grip around it.
The bombardment has increased since the shooting down ofan Azeri helicopter last Most of the active fighters on the Armenian side are supporters of the ultranationalist movement led by Musa Mehmedov.
result will certainly be hundreds of deaths and tens of thousands of Socialists must stand for the national rights of the Armenian people of Karabakh, whatever the reactionary nationalist character of their leadership. No. 16 Feb. 15, 1992
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