Tiraspol, Moldova/Transnistria.

I’ve been obsessed with the place for years, and decided to make a blog about it a few days ago, for any of your followers who are interested. :)  It’s still in the beginning stages now, but expect much more.  

http://fuckyeahtransnistria.tumblr.com/

Thanks, absolutely love your blog. :)

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Submitted by sunnydriveinsarajevo. How cool! I am, obviously, really interested in Transnistria, too. It’s sort of this ignored conflict, no one in the international community cares about it, but Moldova is the poorest country in Europe, and it’s hard to see how that will ever change until this situation is resolved. It’s definitely worth learning more about. — FYEE

Pictures of the Transnistrian side of the Transnistria War.

Not exactly a staple of most history classes outside of Moldova, the Transnistria War broke out in 1992. In the late 1980s, newly relaxed Soviet policies toward its constituent republics allowed the Moldovan government to make changes that appealed to the ethnic Moldovan (ie, ethnically Romanian) majority, like making Romanian the official language. There was talk of unifying the nation with Romania. The significant Russian minority in Moldova didn’t like it - and in September 1990, the primarily Russian area east of the Dniester/Nistru River declared independence from Moldova. (They didn’t declare independence from the USSR - they wanted to be a new republic within the country as a whole.) Moscow, however, did not recognize the territory. Almost immediately, small scale fighting between Moldovan police and the rebels in Transnistria broke out.

In August 1991 with the USSR falling apart, Moldova declared its independence and began to field an army to fight the separatists. Full scale war didn’t break out until March of 1992, when independent Moldova (with borders including the disputed Transnistria region) received recognition from the United Nations. Russia and Ukraine aided the Transnistrians; Romania aided the Moldovans.

The war itself was short - a cease-fire was signed in July of 1992. But very little progress has been made in the interim. Transnistria continues to maintain that it is an independent state, but the only other states that recognize it are also unrecognized former Soviet territories. Until it can be resolved, the standoff has a negative impact on the political and economic power of Moldova. Don’t hold your breath, though. The government in Chisinau doesn’t have the political strength to reunify the country, and Moldova is not exactly a high priority for the regional powers that do.

BTW, the writing on the tank in the top picture declares death to the Romanian occupiers, and the graffiti artist in the middle right is depicting what he thinks Moldova does for Romania.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Repairing a watch in Tiraspol, Moldova/Transnistria.

Nobody expects a quick fix to the 20-year conflict between the Moldovan authorities and the self-proclaimed regime in Transdniestria. But progress is inching forward, High-level talks reconvene on April 17-18 in Vienna, with a largely new line-up on both sides of the table. Both Moldova and the separatist entity have elected new presidents during the past four months. Russia and the OSCE…have newly appointed representatives; the EU will also be replacing its envoy to the talks.  

A bit dense with policy jargon, but a short, informative read for people interested in the Moldova/Transnistria conflict. BTW, ages ago I posted a little background post on Transnistria, if you’re looking at this and going “…I don’t even know what any of this means.” 

In Butuceni, Transnistria/Moldova.

Tiraspol, Moldova/Transnistria.

Lenin watches passersby in Tiraspol, Moldova/Transnistria.

Tension rose between Russia and Moldova, a former Soviet republic that recently celebrated 20 years of independence, after a Russian peacekeeper fatally shot a young Moldovan man as he sped through a checkpoint early on New Year’s Day.

Russia has roughly 1,100 troops based in the separatist enclave of Transnistria, a ribbon of territory roughly the size of Rhode Island that has large ethnic Russian and Ukrainian populations. Transnistria fought a brief war with Russia’s assistance in an attempt to break from Moldova in the early 1990s, and the enclave’s perimeter is still heavily fortified and patrolled by armed Russian, Moldovan and Transnistrian peacekeepers, though there have been virtually no violent episodes over two decades.

That changed Sunday morning, when Vadim Pisar, an 18-year-old Moldovan, passed a Russian-staffed checkpoint on a road toward Chisinau, the capital.

Russian authorities said Mr. Pisar barreled past the checkpoint on his way out and when he returned a few minutes later did not react to an order to stop. The peacekeeper, who was armed with an assault rifle, fired shots into the air and then at the driver’s side of the man’s car, gravely wounding him in the back. He died in the hospital later that day.

Meeting of Tiraspol’s aristocrats, 1904.