The War of Transnistria involves armed clashes on a limited scale that break out between PMR Republican Guard, militia and Cossack units, supported by the Russian 14th army, and Moldovan policemen/troops as early as November 1990 at Dubusari.

Fighting intensifies out of local incidents on March 1, 1992, with the accession of newly independent Moldova into the UN, and, alternated by ad hoc cease-fires, lasts throughout spring and early summer 1992 until a ceasefire this same year (July 21), which has held ever since.