Page "War of Transnistria" Paragraph 42

In 1991, PMR paramilitary forces conducted forays into supply depots of the 14th Army, appropriating an unknown but large amount of equipment.

With the commanding officer of the 14th Army, General G. I. Yakovlev, openly supporting the newly created PMR, these forays usually met no resistance from army guards, who never faced punishment.

Yakovlev eventually participated in the founding of the PMR, served in the PMR Supreme Soviet and accepted the position as the first chairman of the PMR Department of Defense on 3 December 1991, causing the Commander-in-Chief of the CIS armed forces, Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, to promptly relieve him of his rank and service in the Russian military.

Yakovlev's successor, General Yuriy Netkachev has assumed a more neutral stance in the conflict.

However, his attempts at mediation between Chişinău and Tiraspol were largely unsuccessful and the situation escalated to an open military engagement by June 1992.

On 23 June, in the wake of a coordinated offensive by Moldovan forces, General Major Alexander Lebed arrived at the 14th Army headquarters with standing orders to inspect the army, prevent the theft of armaments from its depots, stop the ongoing conflict with any means available and ensure the unimpeded evacuation of armaments and Army personnel from Moldovan and through Ukrainian territory.

After briefly assessing the situation, he assumed command of the army, relieving Netkachev, and ordered his troops to enter the conflict directly.

On 3 July at 03: 00, a massive artillery strike from 14th Army formations stationed on left bank of the Dniester obliterated the Moldovan force concentrated in Gerbovetskii forest, near Bendery, effectively ending the military phase of the conflict.

A quote attributed to Lebed demonstrates his support of the Transnistrian cause: " I am proud that we helped and armed Transnistrian guards against Moldovan fascists ".

However, he bore no goodwill towards the Transnistrian leadership and frequently denounced them as " criminals " and " bandits ".

Another quote attributed to him describes his stance as follows: " I told the hooligans in Tiraspol and the fascists in Chişinău -- either you stop killing each other, or else I'll shoot the whole lot of you with my tanks ".