30 years since the start of the armed aggression against Pridnestrovie

The war began in Dubossary 30 years ago. March 2, 1992 was a turning point for the city and the whole country – the beginning of a large-scale aggression of Moldovan nationalists against Pridnestrovie. The fighting around the city lasted three months, after which the Bendery tragedy followed. The plan of attack on Bendery, according to the participants in the hostilities of the early 90s, was “tested” precisely in Dubossary. The events of the beginning of March themselves are popularly called “black martishor”.

Those who stood up for the city and the republic 30 years ago, their relatives and friends, came today to the Memorial Complex of Military Glory in Dubossary. The PMR President Vadim Krasnoselsky recalled in his speech the events that preceded March 1992, how Moldovan nationalists sought to establish control over Dubossary, trying three times to capture the city. The PMR President especially noted the heroism of the defenders of Pridnestrovie – guardsmen, Cossacks and civilians.

Officials, defenders of Pridnestrovie and residents of the city after laying flowers at the graves of the fallen at the Memorial of Military Glory, laid flowers at Memorial plate on one of the houses in the city. It is here, according to residents of Dubossary, that the war on the Dniester began. On the evening of March 1, 1992, the city militia department received a call with a message that a fight had started in one of the dormitories. The militia Chief Major Igor Sipchenko went to the call along with other militia officers. The patrol car was fired from machine guns, Igor Sipchenko was mortally wounded.

Those who attacked the militia patrol car fled to the city department of the Moldovan police. On the night of March 1-2, 1992, the building was surrounded by guardsmen, Cossacks and residents of the city. Then, during the negotiations, 18-year-old Cossack Mikhail Zubkov died. As a result, the police were expelled from the city, but those who shot at Sipchenko and Zubkov were never found.

Fifty people were killed in Dubossary in March 1992, almost the same number are still missing. 170 defenders of Pridnestrovie were killed in total, during the armed conflict unleashed by Moldova in the Dubossary region.