Trip to a country that doesn't exist
What is it like to live in a country that doesn't exist? The about 400,000 people in Transnistria do so and they do quite well.
Transnistria is a small piece of land on the eastern bank of the river Dniester. It officially belongs to the Republic of Moldova.
Though in fact it's autonomous since 1990, no other country accepts the independence, not even big brother Russia. Yet Moscow has control.
Local administration is just a puppet on a string. There are Russian troops in the area to "guard former Soviet ammunition storages". 🤔
Local "government" is called "supreme soviet", just like in the bad old times. Until 1992 there were violent fights for Transnistria.
For more that 25 years now it's a so called frozen conflict. Chances are low to solve it. As long as it exists Moldova can't join the EU.
The Transnistrian economy is controlled by an oligarchic company. It owns industries, gas stations, supermarkets, hotels, a football club...
Its name is "Sheriff" And it's present everywhere in the "capital" Tiraspol.
This is the "border" between Transnistria and the rest of Moldova. There are customs officers and international peace keeping troops.
Hammer and sickle - still the most important symbols for the oligarchic-communist regime in Transnistria.
All photos by me except for the map. It's from Wikipedia (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria).
As a Romanian citizen, thanks for bringing up this little known subject. Moldova was once part of Romania, my grandfathers fought to get it back in WWII, but of course that was not allowed. Transnistria exists not only to keep Moldova from joining the EU, but also from ever reuniting with Romania. Should authorities in either country come up with such notion, the conflict in Transnistria would flare up again in no time.
It's kind of a cold war. Felt like a time travel.
This is an awesome post, very interesting. And how you get into a country that doesn't exist? With what papers?? I'm also an OCD curator and I want to nominate this post to our daily compilation. This could get you more attention to your blog and maybe some extra votes. Reply if you accept.
This gem of a post was discovered by the OCD Team!
Reply to this comment if you accept, and are willing to let us share your gem of a post! By accepting this, you have a chance to receive extra rewards and one of your photos in this article may be used in our compilation post!
You can follow @ocd – learn more about the project and see other Gems! We strive for transparency.
Oh, of course I do accept. With pleasure. I traveled Moldova and visited the enclave by the help of the German embassy.