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✅ Main takeaway:
AIn the midst of the war in Ukraine and the fragile borders that cross the former Soviet Union, the self-declared Republic of Transnistria, which separated from Moldova more than thirty years ago after a short but bloody conflict, remains locked in deep political and diplomatic isolation.
Home to about 450,000 people, Transnistria is a narrow strip of land located between Moldova and Ukraine, along the eastern bank of the Dniester River. Its actual capital, Tiraspol, is less than 60 miles from the Ukrainian port city of Odessa. Despite its small size – about 125 miles away – the region is of great strategic importance, as it lies on a major corridor between the Black Sea and Central Europe.
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The tanks on display in the streets of Tiraspol date back to the Dniester War, also known as the Transnistrian War or the Moldovan Civil War. The post-Soviet conflict in 1992 pitted the Transnistrian Army (backed by Russia) against the Moldovan Armed Forces on the banks of the Dniester River. The conflict killed about 1,000 people.
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Maria, 35, and her daughter Miroslava, live in Tiraspol.
This breakaway region has its own institutions and government, but is not officially recognized as a state by any UN member state – not even by Russia, which maintains about 1,500 soldiers in the territory, nominally as “peacekeepers” but in practice as a means of extending influence over Moldova.
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Simon, like many young men, comes to this hill along the Dniester River. During the war against Moldova, snipers were stationed on this hill and controlled the future border.
This lack of recognition leaves Transnistria in a gray area of international law, isolated from global organizations and trapped in a post-Soviet legacy. While other former Soviet republics have integrated into international structures and forged new political paths, Transnistria has remained firmly rooted in its bygone Soviet past.
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In many Transnistrian villages, memorials to the civil war between Moldova and Transnistria, and to the victory over Nazism, are regularly decorated with flowers.
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Left: A young mother walks past the Pilots’ Monument located on 60 Years of October Square in the eastern outskirts of the actual capital. Right: In front of the Bulgarian House of Culture in Barkani stands a statue of Lenin.
Across the territory of the Pridnestrovian-Moldavian Republic, the name used by Transnistria, Soviet symbols still dominate the landscape, reflecting an ongoing nostalgia for a vanished political system. This connection has left the people of Transnistria particularly vulnerable, reinforcing the perception that they are orphans of history, frozen in a moment that no longer exists.
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Varvara Dubiš, 84 years old, lives in the village of Slobodzhia. The village is divided into two parts: the Russian part, where you live, and the Moldovan part.
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Marina lives in the Moldovan part of the village of Slobodzija, and every day she welcomes her daughter-in-law, Caterina Petraro, and grandchildren Dimitri, five months old, and Varya, 12 years old.
The inhabitants of this forgotten republic often face an identity crisis, living at a cultural and linguistic crossroads and navigating between lingering Moldovan, Romanian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Soviet identities. This ambiguity deepens their sense of abandonment, because they do not formally belong to a clearly defined nation.
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Left: Yulia, 31, seven months pregnant. Right: Teenagers escaping from a wedding play on a Revolutionary-era Russian CY 06-71 steam locomotive, which serves as a mostly closed museum.
Because of its ambiguous legal status and lack of international oversight, Transnistria quickly became a haven for smuggling and organized crime in the 1990s. Its location in the “gray zone” has allowed illicit trade – from weapons and fuel to cigarettes and alcohol – to flourish, turning the area into one of the most notorious black markets in post-Soviet Europe.
Over time, much of the local economy fell under the control of the Sherif, a powerful and opaque conglomerate that controlled everything from supermarkets and gas stations to the media and the football club. Today, Sharif’s influence is so pervasive that many residents say the company has more power than the government itself.
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The only boat in Tiraspol that allows navigation on the Dniester River and visits around the city is often docked due to the lack of visitors. It only sails when the minimum of 20 passengers is reached. Generally, the boat remains docked during the week waiting for passengers.
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Vitaly, 40, Natasha, 43, Vlad, 17, and Bogdan, 11, are a family living in Tiraspol.
Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 brought a new level of insecurity in Transnistria, plunging the already fragile region into a new political and economic crisis. For decades, Transnistria has subsisted on free gas supplied by Russia via pipelines through Ukraine. After the invasion, these flows were severely disrupted, leading to the closure of almost all industrial enterprises.
The Russian military presence in Transnistria has raised tensions in Moldova, where officials fear that Moscow will use this enclave to open a new front in its war against the West. Since coming to power in 2020, Moldova’s pro-European president, Maia Sandu, has vowed to firmly steer the country away from Russian influence — a stance that has deepened friction with pro-Russian authorities in Transnistria, long seen as a thorn in the side of Moldova’s bid to join the European Union.
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New Sharif supermarket in Rybnica town. The brand belongs to Victor Gochan, a powerful businessman who is said to control 60% of the country’s economy.
However, there are signs of a growing appetite among ordinary Transnistrians to distance themselves from the Kremlin, as well as growing discussions in Moldova about the possibility of reunifying the country with its troubled neighbor in the future. In September’s parliamentary elections, a record number of Transnistrians cast their votes for Moldova’s pro-EU Malaysian Islamic Party, as growing economic difficulties prompted many to seek greater stability and a return to some sense of normalcy.
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Ludmila, Luba and Svetlana live in the village of Rugi on the Moldovan border. They work together to promote traditional clothing and organize dances and performances for local people.
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