The Place Where the USSR Still Exists Today

The bizzare history of Transnistria

The country of Moldova is not a popular one. It is one of the least visited and poorest countries in Europe. It does however have an interesting story to tell.

A breath of fresh air swept through the east of Europe when in 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed. The fifteen former soviet socialist republics split into different countries, with one of them being Moldova.

The newly formed government had an idea for the future of the country, to move away from communism and to pursue closer ties with Romania and the west. The ethnic Russians and Ukrainians living east of the Dniestr river had a radically different idea though.

They, for the most part, enjoyed living in the USSR and wanted to stay close with Russia. This sparked a separatist movement and residents of the area declared independence and called their country Приднестровье, Transnistria in English. This led to a two week long civil war which ended on a ceasefire agreement.

Although Transnistria is not an independent country, it still acts like one. It has its own police, military, schooling system, government, healthcare, currency, and almost everything else a respectable country needs to function.

To this day Transnistria is not recognized by any country except by other unrecognized countries. Transnsitrians carry Transnistrian passports but they are not valid for international travel. This is why most Transnistrians have dual nationality, their unrecognized home nationality of Transnistria as well as one other. Most people go with Russia’s citizenship which can be easily seen after taking a look at the posters hung up on the streets by Russian political parties during Russia’s elections

Russia has a great deal of influence in the region. “Peacekeeping” soldiers are stationed on its border with the rest of Moldova. They wear blue helmets just like UN soldiers but they are not there on an official diplomatic mission, which creates tension in the region as Russia is effectively threatening Moldova’s sovereignty. Russia claims that the soldiers are there solely for peacekeeping, however, if something was to happen, we know in which direction the barrels of their rifles would be pointing.

Many people living there have fond memories of the USSR and communist imagery is everywhere. Most post-communist countries have gone through a de-communization process where statues and monuments of the past have been taken down and destroyed. This region of the world is perhaps the only place where the remains of communism can be found.

This part of the world needs to be watched more closely in the coming years, especially with the rising tension between Russia and the West.