Tiraspol, December 17. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. The history of our republic is closely connected with the Cossacks. Drawing from the traditions preserved in the national memory, 29 years ago, on December 17, 1991, the Cossacks were recreated in Pridnestrovie.
In early 1990, the descendants of the Cossacks in Dubossary formed an initiative group to revive the Cossacks. On February 11, 1991, the descendants of the Zaporozhian, Black Sea, Kuban, Don, Orenburg Cossacks proclaimed the Union of Dniester Cossacks, headed by ataman Panteley Sazonov. Bendery became the second town, that supported the intense activity on the Cossacks’ revival.
The formation of the first Cossack organizations in Dubossary and Bendery became the starting point for Cossacks’ revival in Pridnestrovie. The process took place against the background of the exacerbated political situation in the Republic of Moldova, conditioned by the active growth of Romanian-Moldovan nationalism.
In these difficult conditions, a vital necessity for the confluence of the Cossack movement. At the end of 1991, an appeal was made in the Pridnestrovian mass media: “... Everyone, who has at least a drop of Cossack blood, who isn’t indifferent to the fate of the Motherland, come to the convention room of the Tiraspol City Council of People’s Deputies.”
On December 17, 1991, a gathering of the Cossacks’ descendants took place in the capital, which became the basis for the institutionalization of the Cossacks’ formation in the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. In the course of work, an organizing committee for the revival of the Cossacks was elected. The hereditary Kuban Cossack, veteran of the World War II, Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel Ivan Pashchenko become the head of it.
Expressing the will of the Cossacks’ descendants who are living on the territory of Pridnestrovie, and the complete support of the population of the young republic, it was decided: “To revive the Black Sea Cossack army on the land of Pridnestrovie”, approving the date December 17, 1991 as the Day of the Revival of the Black Sea Cossack army in Pridnestrovie. Сivil service and the recreation of army Cossack units were identified as the priority area of activity of the revived Cossacks.
The conformation of the Black Sea Cossack army’s subdivisions was completed after the end of hostilities by the formation of villages and kurens in the districts, the creation of a separate Cossack anti-tank battery, the formation of frontier outpost and a separate reserve border Cossack regiment. Today, the Cossack army includes seven districts: Tiraspol, Dubossary, Slobodzea, Bendery, Grigoriopol, Rybnitsa and Kamenka.
The Black Sea Cossack army was awarded the highest state award of the PMR – the Order of the Republic for merits in protecting the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and strengthening its economic and defensive potential,
Text: the press service of the PMR Defense Ministry
