After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, underlying tensions between Transnistria and Moldova culminated in the March – July 1992 Transnistrian War. Before the war, opposition to Moldovan nationalism increased and raids and attempts to seize the territory took place. Russian soldiers sided with the separatists during the conflict, with members of the Russian 14th Army providing weapons to the new Transnistrian military force. In December 1991, 14th Army commander G. I. Yakovlev also became the head of the Transnistrian military. The ceasefire in July of that year created a security zone composed of five Russian battalions, three Moldovan battalions and two battalions from Transnistria. During the war, some villages in central Transnistria rebelled against the separatist authorities. Some villages on the eastern bank of the Dniester (including Cocieri, Mahala, and Pohrebea) remain under Moldovan control, and some areas on the west bank of the Dniester (including the city of Bender) are controlled by Transnistrian forces.