Transnistria: A Relic from the Cold War, Frozen in Time

 by Owen McGovern

The Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, more commonly known as Transnistria, is one of the numerous unrecognised countries in the world. I first became aware of Transnistria through football, as the Moldovan league champions Sheriff Tiraspol FC had recently recorded historic wins over Ukrainian runners-up Shakhtar Donetsk and Spanish giants Real Madrid in the first ever campaign in the UEFA Champions League from a Moldovan team. However, I soon found out that Sheriff FC, who were making Moldovan footballing history, were in some respects not from Moldova at all.

The city of Tiraspol, home of Sheriff FC, is the capital and largest city in Transnistria. Located in Eastern Europe on a narrow strip of land between Moldova and Ukraine and with a population of 470,000, Transnistria is currently internationally recognised as part of Moldova, however it operates as an independent country. Despite being the only remaining country in the world to still have the Soviet hammer and sickle proudly displayed on its flag, Transnistria isn’t communist, which is a misconception that stems from the abundance of Soviet-era relics, such as tanks, scattered around the country as monuments. Transnistria is a republic, where interestingly in the 2016 election the Communist Party gained only around 3% of the vote.

For decades the country of Moldova had been a part of the Soviet Union, having been ceded to the USSR by Romania in 1940. However in 1991, during the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moldova declared independence from the USSR, while the region of Transnistria, in a bid to remain part of the USSR, itself broke away from Moldova. This led to the outbreak of the Transnistria War, which saw fighting between Transnistrian forces, assisted by Russian volunteers, and Moldovan forces, indirectly supported by Romania. Although the total strength of each side was near equal, at around 30,000 troops each, the superiority of the Russian forces proved key to the outcome of the war falling in Transnistria’s favour. On the 21st of July 1992, a ceasefire agreement was signed by the presidents of Russia and Moldova, which effectively ended the fighting, although not before nearly one thousand people had been killed. 

Since the ceasefire, Transnistria has had improvements in its relationship with its neighbour Moldova, such as in 1997, when a memorandum was signed which maintained official relations between the two countries. There have also been various proposals for the reunification of Moldova and Transnistria. For example, it was proposed in 2003 that Transnistria could reunify with Moldova while still retaining some autonomy; Transnistria however desired equal status in any union between the two countries. Transnistria later agreed to the plan, but the its government demanded that Russia sustain its military presence in Transnistria for a further two decades to safeguard the plan’s terms, which caused Moldova to pull out. Additional talks have been held since, which have contained representatives of Ukraine, the United States and the European Union. 

Nowadays, Transnistria still cultivates a close relationship with Russia, despite no longer bordering it. This is partly due to the region having a significant population of ethnic Russians, which in 2015 made up 30% of the country, as well as Russian being one of three official languages in Transnistria. Furthermore, in 2014 200,000 Transnistrians had a Russian passport. These factors have resulted in Transnistria having educational and judiciary systems modelled on that of Russia and receiving financial and military support from Russia. Many prominent Transnistrian political figures have even called for the country to be completely annexed by Russia, which would likely mean Transnistria would become a state in the Russian Federation. In 2006, Igor Smirnov, who served as President of Transnistria from its foundation until 2011, held a referendum on future unification with Russia, which was approved, while another referendum on reunification with Moldova was rejected. In 2014, the leader of the Transnistrian parliament sent a letter formally requesting that Transnistria become a part of Russia, which was promptly rejected by Russia.

 As Russia does not even currently recognise Transnistria as a country, many analysts believe that Russia avoids becoming too involved in Transnistria for fear of losing its influence in larger and wealthier Moldova. Furthermore, as Transnistria is landlocked, if Russia agreed to annex it, then they could only reach it through Moldova or Ukraine, both of which are hostile to Russian influence in Transnistria. Therefore, any attempt by Russia to expand its degree of control over Transnistria, even if Transnistria desires it, would prove to be costly and difficult, so it seems for now that Transnistria will remain trapped in the past and unable to move forward.

Sources:

https://mycountryeurope.com/politics/beyond-the-communist-appearance-transnistria/

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20200205-celebrating-a-nation-that-doesnt-exist

https://www.britannica.com/place/Transdniestria

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2016/12/23/transnistrias-presidential-election/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria_War

https://www.e-ir.info/2021/08/03/moldova-and-the-transnistria-conflict-still-a-regional-cold-war/

https://www.fpri.org/article/2017/07/transnistrian-conflict-destabilizing-status-quo/