 Andrei Stratan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Moldova stated in his speech during the 12th OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting in Sofia on 6 – 7 December 2004 that "The presence of Russian troops on the territory of the Republic of Moldova is against the political will of Moldovan constitutional authorities and defies the unanimously recognized international norms and principles, being qualified by Moldovan authorities as a foreign military occupation illegally deployed on the territory of the state[…]" Russia continues to 'sustain the Dniestr region as a quasi-independent entity through direct and indirect means'

Through the 1990s the Transnistrian police were involved in a conflict over Moldovan schools in Transnistria.In September 1996, the Grigoriopol administration used Cossacks and police to stop the activity of Moldovan School.On 2 October 1996 three teachers were arrested and taken to Tiraspol.