Transnistria                                   

Transnistria, also known as Trans-Dniester and Pridnestrovie, is a breakaway territory within the internationally recognised borders of Moldova. Although not recognised by any state or international organisation and de jure a part of Moldova, it is de facto an independent  state called the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic.

Transnistria is located within the internationally recognised borders of Moldova mostly to the east of the Dniester river. It declared itself separate from Moldavian SSR as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic on September 2, 1990 though this move was not recognised within the USSR itself. After the collapse of the USSR Transnistria declared independence leading to the war with Moldova that started in March, 1992 and was concluded by the ceasefire of July, 1992. The ceasefire has held however the territory's political status remains undetermined and Transnistria has been de facto independent since that time.

Overview
Although the PMR does not have such legal status within Moldova, it functions like a state, and is organized as a republic.

Transnistria declared independence from Moldova, but within the Soviet Union on September 2, 1990, as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. This was declared to be “lacking legal basis” by then-Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachov and the decision to create the PMSSR was annulled by presidential decree on December 22, 1990.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, in March 1992, a war between Moldovan and Transnistrian separatist forces started in the region. In mid April 1992, in accordance with the agreements concerning the split of the military equipment of the former Soviet Union, negotiated between the former 15 republics in the previous months, Moldova created its own Defense Ministry. According to the decree of its creation, most of the 14th Soviet Army's military equipment was to be retained by Moldova. Volunteers came from Russia and Ukraine to help the separatist side ("Cossack Companies"). The former Soviet 14th Guards Army entered the conflict in its final stage, opening fire against Moldovan forces;[10] since then, Moldova has exercised no effective control or influence on PMR authorities. A three-party (Russia, Moldova, PMR) Joint Control Commission supervises the security arrangements in the de-militarized zone, comprising 20 localities on both sides of the river.

Transnistria functions as a presidential republic, with its own government and parliament. Its authorities have adopted a constitution, flag, a national anthem, and a coat of arms. They organized and maintain a military and a police force. They have a postal system and stamps. Their stamps, though not internationally recognized, are of value to collectors. Transnistrian institutions, like the state itself, have no international recognition. Nonetheless, the population is able to travel (normally without difficulty) in and out of the territory under PMR control to neighboring Moldovan-controlled territory, Ukraine, and on to Russia, by road or (when service is not interrupted by political tensions) on two international trains, the year-round Moscow-Chişinău, and the seasonal Saratov-Varna. International air travellers rely on the airport in Chisanau, the Moldovan capital.

Despite the fact that when Moldova proclaimed its independence, the majority of Transnistrian territorry was already controlled by separatists, 400,000 Transnistrians (the majority of the population) took Moldovan citizenship by 2007.

A 1,200-strong Russian military contingent (the Operational Group of Russian Forces in Moldova of the Moscow Military District), as well as over 20,000 tons of Russian-owned weapons and munition are present in Transnistria. The Russian contingent was originally the Soviet 14th Guards Army, but in the late 1990s it was redesignated as a Operational Group. Moldova and the OSCE demand their withdrawal. According to a verdict issued by European Court of Human Rights, the presence of these troops is illegal (breaking the July 21 1992 agreement), and Transnistria is "under the effective authority or at least decisive influence of Russia".

Transnistria is sometimes compared with Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. All four are post-Soviet frozen conflicts, and except for Nagorno-Karabakh, the tensions in these areas have risen to large-scale military conflict after the independence of Moldova and Georgia from the Soviet Union, while Russian troops and/or volunteers from Russia were largely present
 

Geography

Transnistria is landlocked and borders Bessarabia (i.e. the rest of Moldova, for 411 km) to the West, and Ukraine (for 405 km) to the East. It is a narrow valley stretching in the North-South direction along the bank of the Dniester River, which forms a natural boundary along most of the border with (the rest of) Moldova. Tiraspol, the capital and largest city of Transnistria, has 159,163 inhabitants.

The territory of Transnistria is mostly, but not completely coincident with the left (eastern) bank of Moldova (with respect to Dniester). It includes ten cities and towns, and 69 communes, with a totality of 147 localities (counting the unincorporated ones as well). Ten localities on the left bank are controlled by the Moldovan government, as part of the Dubăsari district. They are situated north and south of the city of Dubăsari, which itself is under Transnistrian control.

On the west bank, the city of Bender/Bendery/Tighina and six villages to its south and south-east, roughly opposite Tiraspol, are controlled by Transnistrian authorities.

The ten localities controlled by the Moldovan authorities on the eastern bank, the city of Dubăsari (situated on the eastern bank and controlled by Tiraspol), the seven localities controlled by the Transnistrian authorities on the western bank, as well as two (Varniţa and Copanca) on the same bank under Chişinău control form a security zone. The security situation inside it is subject to the Joint Control Commission rulings.

The main transportation route in Transnistria is the road Tiraspol-Dubăsari-Rîbniţa. North and south of Dubăsari it passes through the lands of the villages controlled by the central government (Doroţcaia, Cocieri, Roghi, while Vasilievca is entirely situated east of the road). Conflict erupted on several occasions when the Tiraspol authorities prevented the villagers from reaching their farmland east of the road.

Political status

Transnistria is internationally recognised as being a legal part of the Republic of Moldova, although de facto control is exercised by its internationally unrecognised government which declared independence from Moldova as the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica or Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), in 1990 with Tiraspol as its declared capital. Prior to unification of the territory with Moldova in 1940, Tiraspol was the capital of the Moldavian ASSR, an autonomous republic within Ukrainian SSR, which existed from 1924 to 1940.

Although exercising no direct control over the territory, the Moldovan government passed the "Law on Basic Provisions of the Special Legal Status of Localities from the Left Bank of the Dniester" on July 22, 2005, which established Transnistria as a separate territorial unit within the Republic of Moldova, which can be given a status of a large autonomy. The law was passed without any prior consultation with the de facto government in Transnistria, which felt that it was a provocation and has since ignored it.

Russia has opened a consulate in Tiraspol (against the will of Moldova) and issued about 80,000 passports to Transnistrians by the end of 2006.

There are unsettled border issues between the PMR and Moldova. Nine villages from the Dubăsari district, including Cocieri and Doroţcaia which geographically belong to Transnistria, have been under the control of the central government of Moldova after the involvement of local inhabitants on the side of Moldovan forces during the War of Transnistria. These villages along with Varniţa and Copanca, near Tighina and Tiraspol, are claimed by the PMR. One city and six villages on the west bank are controlled by the Transnistrian authorities, but are considered by Moldova as a separate municipality (Tigina and two villages), or part of the Căuşeni district (four villages).

Tense situations have periodically surfaced due to these territorial disputes, for example in 2005, when Transnistrian forces entered Vasilievca, in 2006 around Varniţa, and in 2007 in Dubăsari-Cocieri area, when a confrontation between Moldovan and Transnistrian forces occurred, however without any casualties.

According to Moldovan sources, in 13 May 2007 the mayor of the village Corjova, which is under Moldovan government control, was arrested by Transnistrian police, together with a councillor of Moldovan-controlled part of Dubăsari district
 

Politics

Transnistria has a multi-party system and a unicameral parliament named the Supreme Council. Its legislature has 43 members elected by proportional representation. The president is elected to a five year term by popular vote.

Igor Smirnov has been the President of Transnistria since the declaration of independence in 1990 and he is currently serving his fourth mandate after being reelected in December 2006. In the latest parliamentary election in December 2005 the Renewal movement defeated the Republic movement and won an overall majority, its leader Yevgeni Shevchuk becoming speaker of parliament.

According to official PMR data, only 15 of the 43 members of its parliament were born in the territory of Transnistria (including 12 in Transnistria proper, and 3 in the Bessarabian area of Tighina-Chiţcani, which is controlled by Transnistria), while 4 others in the rest of Moldova, with the remainder mainly born in Russia or Ukraine. Igor Smirnov, the leader of PMR, arrived in the region in 1987. Most of the MPs who were born elsewhere had moved to the region ten years or more before the conflict erupted.  Despite the fact that Moldavians are around a third of Transnistrian population, no ethnic Moldavians are members in the Transnistrian council of ministers.

There is disagreement as to whether elections in Transnistria are free and fair. The political regime has been described as one of 'super-presidentialism'.

Election results are considered suspicious, as in 2001 in one region it was reported that Igor Smirnov collected 103.6% of the votes. Nevertheless, some organizations, such as CIS-EMO, have participated and have called them democratic.
The Narodovlastie party and Power to the People movement faced numerous problems in 2001-2002 and were eventually closed.

A list published by the European Union bans travel to the EU of some members of the PMR leadership.

In 2007 the registration of Social Democratic Party was allowed. This party, led by former separatist leader and member of PMR government Andrey Safonov, is allegedly in favor of a union with Moldova . In the latest presidential election the registration of opposition candidate Andrey Safonov was delayed until a few days before the vote, so that he had little time to conduct an election campaign.

In September 2007, the leader of the Transnistrian Communist party, Oleg Horjan, was sentenced at a suspended sentence of 1,5 years imprisonment for organising unsanctioned actions of protest.

See also: List of political parties in Transnistria
A referendum was organised in September 17, 2006 by the PMR authorities. According to them, the population voted overwhelmingly in favour of "independence from Moldova and free association with Russia". Although the results may not be completely reliable, it is still likely that most Transnistrians support an eventual union with Russia.