On Wednesday, April 27, gunshots were heard near a Russian ammunition depot, located in the heart of this region, but quiet. Moldovan President Maia Sandu met with her National Security Council on the same day. “This is an attempt to increase tensions,” she criticized, saying “the Moldovan authorities would ensure that the republic is not drawn into a conflict.”
What is Transnistria?
It is a region in eastern Moldova, the size of Belgium, between Romania and Ukraine. The 450-kilometer-long Transnistria is primarily a Kremlin-backed pro-Russian territory that declared itself an independent country in 1992. And this province has everything that makes a state. It has a name, “Transnistrian Moldova”, a capital, Tiraspol, and a President, Vadim Krasnoselsky, who must respect a constitution and cooperate with a parliament.
Transnistria covers an area of just over 4,100 square kilometers.
Twitter screenshot.
With a population of 500,000, a third of whom are Romanian and two-thirds Russian and Ukrainian, the territory has its own education system, bank, currency (the Transnistrian ruble) and even a flag. However, it is not recognized by the UN or any other state.
The flag is adorned with the sickle and hammer, Soviet remnants.
Twitter screenshot.
Why is Transnistria declared independent from Moldova?
Today’s borders of Moldova date back to the fall of the USSR in 1991. But throughout its history, this territory has been shared by several powers. The Principality of Moldavia, existing since the 14th century, was split in two in 1812 when the Russian Empire conquered its eastern part, Bessarabia without Transnistria later in the 18th century.
At the end of World War I, Bessarabia joined the Romanian Kingdom while the remaining part, Transnistria, remained in the USSR. The latter even created the Moldavian Socialist Autonomous Soviet Republic in 1924, the beginning of this national sentiment. Moldova, which included former Bessarabia and Transnistria within the same borders, gained independence in August 1991.
What happened in 1992?
But from March 1992, less than a year after the independence of the young Republic of Moldova, civil war broke out. Point of contention: the adoption of Romanian as the official language in the institutions. And above all, the loss of influence of the Russian-speakers within the government institutions, which, according to Catherine Durandin, the historian specializing in Romania, fueled Transnistria’s anger at the “world” at the time.
On the same subject
War in Ukraine: Transnistria, the next phase of the conflict?
The war in Ukraine worries the neighboring countries and especially Moldova. The situation of this former Soviet republic is all the more precarious since since its independence it has almost had to deal with a pro-Russian separatist area in its eastern part, Transnistria.
The confrontation claims thousands of lives. In July 1992, however, a ceasefire was signed that stripped Moldova of part of its territory, its main industrial area. With only 11% of the area and 17% of the total population of Moldova, Transnistria actually generates more than a third of the country’s GDP. His companies represented more than 40% of the economic fabric. During secession, Transnistria was twice as rich as the rest of Moldova.
What is Moldova’s position in the war in Ukraine?
The country has been neutral in international legal texts since 1994. That means the nation cannot help a country at war, nor join a military alliance like NATO. However, at the beginning of the Russian invasion, the Moldovan government always showed its support for neighboring Ukraine. It has welcomed almost 400,000 refugees on its territory, but has not adopted the sanctions imposed by the European Union.