Legal regulation of the presence and activities of Russian troops in Transnistria

The subject of the study is historical events, political processes, the activities of Russian state authorities and legal facts related to the presence and activities of Russian troops in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova. The object of the study is the bilateral regulatory legal acts regulating the legal status and duration of stay of the Operational Group of Troops of the Russian Federation (OGRF) on the territory of Moldova. The relevance of this study is due to the harsh statements of the Moldovan authorities and officials regarding Russia, in general, and the OGRF stationed on the territory of Transnistria, in which Russian troops are called occupying, illegally staying, and their immediate withdrawal is required. The purpose of the work is to refute such statements and to prove the legitimacy of the presence of Russian troops in Transnistria. The research uses general scientific and special research methods – systematic, historical, logical, analysis and synthesis, comparative and others. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that it examines little-known legal aspects of the issue. The results obtained allow us to conclude that the repeated unilateral demands of the Moldovan authorities to withdraw the OGRF have no legal basis, since Moldova, as a party to the Agreement, voluntarily, without threat of force or any other coercion, signed the Agreement dated October 21, 1994. Despite the fact that Russia has not ratified this agreement, it is the basic and initial one for a number of other signed bilateral agreements in the military sphere that are still in force. That is why the Moldovan authorities, realizing the futility of legal procedures to demand the withdrawal of Russian troops, rely on political statements and seek help from their Western allies.