Transnistria

About Transnistria-

• Transnistria is a breakaway state located mostly on a strip of land between the River Dniester and the eastern Moldovan border with Ukraine. 
• It is heavily dependent on Russia. However there is no international recognition for the government in Transnistria.

• Since its declaration of independence in 1990, and especially after the War of Transnistria in 1992, it has been governed as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR, also known as Pridnestrovie).
• It is a state with limited recognition that claims territory to the east of the River Dniester, and also to the city of Bender (Tighina) and its surrounding localities on the west bank in the historical region of Bessarabia. 
• The names “Transnistria” and “Pridnestrovie” both refer to the Dniester River. 
• Unrecognised by any United Nations member state, Transnistria is designated by the Republic of Moldova as the Transnistria autonomous territorial unit with special legal status.
• Its capital and largest city is Tiraspol. 

• It has been recognised only by three other unrecognised or partially recognised breakaway states: Abkhazia, Artsakh and South Ossetia.

• The present history of the region dates to 1990, during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was established in hopes that it would remain within the Soviet Union should Moldova seek unification with Romania or independence, the latter occurring in August 1991. 
• Shortly afterwards, a military conflict between the two parties started in March 1992 and concluded with a ceasefire in July that year.
• As part of the ceasefire agreement, a three-party (Russia, Moldova, Transnistria) Joint Control Commission supervises the security arrangements in the demilitarised zone, comprising 20 localities on both sides of the river.
• Although the ceasefire has been held, the territory’s political status remains unresolved. Hence, Transnistria is an unrecognised but de facto independent presidential republic with its own government, parliament, military, police, postal system, currency, and vehicle registration.

• The main ethnic groups are Russians, Moldovans/Romanians, and Ukrainians.

• Transnistria, along with Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Artsakh, is a post-Soviet “frozen conflict” zone.

• Russian is one of the three official languages in PMR together with Cyrillic-based Moldavian and Ukrainian. 

• That is to the contrary to Moldova, where the official language since 2013 is Romanian.