The North American Shortwave Association counts already Pridnestrovie (Transdniestria, by its constitutional name) as a separate country, which is of course merely reflecting the actual reality of the past nearly 18 years. Here’s a listener’s report and here’s the full list of countries.
What got Transdniestria on the list as a separate country? Merely a true […]
To the people that live there, Transnistria – or Pridnestrovskaya Moldavskaya Respublika – to use its official name, is far more than a figment of their hearts and minds, it is a living, breathing nation state with its own parliament, mint, army and culture. But to the rest of the world it is a […]
From comments made by bestselling author and NPR correspondent Eric Weiner, in Newsweek:
“While I did meet some people I liked, Moldova is the least happy country on the planet,” Weiner says. “People go to great lengths to see their neighbors fail.”
Yes, neighbors such as … Transdniestria.
“Completely seriously, it is a very morose place. I’ve never […]
For 2006, Transdniestria’s GDP was US$585.6 million and the GDP per capita was US$1,076. Year-on-year GDP increased 7.7%. Inflation was 10.1%. (Source: ‘’Socio-economical development of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic,’’ statistical service of the Ministry of Economy, Tiraspol 2007.)
For 2007, GDP was 6,789 million PMR rubles (approx. US$799 million) and the GDP per capita was about […]
Germany’s Der Spiegel, as authoritative a source as any, calls Kolbasna
a storage facility of obsolete weapons
and it is true that there is nothing there anymore which is worth much of anything to anybody.
There’s an interesting profile here, based on a rare visit to Kolbasna.
Well, perhaps not that rare after all … because international weapons inspectors […]
The more fear of Russia, the better the book sales. Russia bashing is a new niche cottage industry for author and cold warrior Edward Lucas, whose latest quip on Transdniestria is all about guilt-by-association:
We do not want Transdniester to become independent, because it will be like Russia. We do want Kosovo to be independent, because […]
The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Moldova can only refer to territory which is actually under Moldova’s control. That is what sovereignty means. Your sovereignty only extends as far as your “monopoly on violence” does.
Moldova, of course, has never had any control over Transdniestria ever since Moldova became a country in August 1991. (The Transdniestrians […]
Tiraspol’s permanent ice rink was inaugurated on Saturday, and this week had a visit from Ice Symphony, the long-running figure skating extravaganza that has visited 80 international cities.
They flew in straight from Atlantic City, where they performed to 6,000 people at a time last week under Western Union sponsorship. In Tiraspol, the show was […]
Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin had a talk with the European Union’s external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and the state-funded official U.S. news service Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty reported on it.
Among the highlights, the “fat man in the palace” is now putting pre-conditions on dialogue:
The Moldovan president also said his country is ready to […]
Oleg Horzhan, the 32 year old Transdniestrian born leader of the local PMR Communist Party (and a lawyer), does not mince his words. At a public protest meeting last week he started off with the following:
Dear Pridnestrovians, distinguished Tiraspolians!
Today, we again take to the central square of the capital of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. For […]
Moldovan law enforcement agencies cannot de facto prosecute in territory that is not under their effective control writes the Council of Europe in a report released April 29, 2008.
It goes on to say that -
Area currently not under the effective control of the Moldovan authorities
… the self-proclaimed “Republic of Transnistria” came into being on 2 […]
New Cold Warrior Edward Lucas has been a chief apologist for why Kosovo should be allowed independence while Transdniestria should not. His Transdniestria-related articles, like those of his good friend and respected (by Lucas) collaborator Vladimir Socor, hype a fear of all things Russian which is obviously not shared by the Russian-friendly population of Transdniestria.
Now, […]
Romania has made it clear that it is (currently, at least) against an independent Transdniestria - just like it is also against an independent Kosovo.
But on April 17 Romanian President Traian Basescu has said, in a backhanded way, that Transdniestria has better grounds for being with Ukraine than with Moldova.
“If they in Kiev are intending […]
In Japan, one of the country’s leading universities just published a new book on Transdniestria under the auspices of the Slavic Research Center’s program of Slavic Eurasian Studies.
Weighing in at nearly 250 pages, the book deals with Transdniestria in the context of Black Sea macroregional policy and covers Transdniestria’s history as well as the current […]
Chisinau wants Transdniestria to be part of Moldova, and (some in) Moscow may view this as a desirable result, too. But is it? And could it bring more peace … or just the opposite?
A deal between Moscow and Chisinau, bypassing Tiraspol, is bound to fail. For any solution to have staying power, it has […]
The Joint Control Commission of the multilateral peacekeepers (Moldova, Russia, Transdniestria, Ukraine + OSCE) made it clear:
According to protocol № 530 of the United Investigation Commission of 24 June, 2004, law enforcement officials are categorically forbidden to bear weapons while patrolling the city block which is under the jurisdiction of PMR.
But the Moldovans do it […]
The son of the head of Romania’s Communist-era state run propaganda bureau, rabid cold warrior Vladimir Socor, is today employed as a propagandist for a Dick Cheney related neocon outfit. He is often quoted as an analyst and commentator and has been known to plant false flag stories which (with a little help from his […]
The Regnum news agency has a long but very interesting backgrounder on the real status of the independence of the unrecognized states of Transdniestria, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
It looks in detail at how the Kosovo precedent has put Russian diplomacy in a hard spot. It also discounts the urban myth of Transdniestria (and the others) […]
The story behind the story is where it took place: The 90 minute historic (sort of) meeting between Vladimir Voronin and Igor Smirnov was held in a Transdniestrian government office in Bender, inside Transdniestria’s borders.
Check out the two flags in the background: The red and green of the PMR next to the yellow which is […]
A Moldovan newspaper article, which PMR news agency Olvia Press of course quickly reprinted, says that there is more political plurality in Transdniestria than in Moldova:
Today’s Chisinau must envy Tiraspol, where it was proved that it is possible to hold professional discussions that are not tainted with the interests and ideology of just one single […]