In Context
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The Ukraine war casts shadow over Transnistria as security alerts sow fear.
- Transnistria risks being drawn into the Russia-Ukraine war because of reports of a series of explosions in its territory
Where is Transnistria?
- It lies between Moldova to its west and Ukraine towards its east.
- Often described as a “remnant of the Soviet Union”
- It declared independence like Moldova did soon after the break-up of the Soviet Union.
- When Moldovan troops attempted to take over the territory in 1990-1992, Transnistria was able to resist them because of Russian soldiers based in Transnistria.
- Since then, it has remained free of Moldovan control.
- However, most countries continue to see Transnistria as part of Moldova.
The political make-up of Transnistria
- Independence:
- Transnistria is not recognised as independent even by Russia and its economy is dependent on Russia for subsidies and free gas.
- Citizenship:
- Most Transnistrians have dual citizenship of Russia and Transnistria or triple citizenship of Moldova, Transnistria, and Russia.
- Language:
- Unlike the rest of Moldova, which speaks Romanian, the majority of people in Transnistria speak Russian and use the cyrillic script like Russians.
- Governance:
- It has its own government (which is pro-Russian), Parliament, armed force, constitution, flag, anthem, etc.
- In a referendum held in 2006, over 97% of Transnistrians voted for future integration with Russia and after the annexation of Crimea, the government asked if it could be absorbed into Russia. Russia, however, was not keen on this.
- But Transnistria is host to over 1,500 Russian “peacekeepers” and is home to a large Russian ammunition depot at Cobasna.
Source:TH
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