Moldova/ Transnistria: a forgotten conflict
- Christopher Prince
- Sep 1, 2017
- 3 min read
Moldova officially asked the United Nations on 23rd August to discuss the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory in the separatist and non-officially recognised republic of Transnistria at the upcoming 72nd session of the General Assembly due to start on 12 September. This region lays on the eastern side of Moldova and to the west of Ukraine.
Many had forgotten about this frozen conflict that erupted in 1990 after the self-proclaimed republic declared independence from Moldova and was suspended 25 years ago without any resolution. About 1,200 Russian troops have been stationed in the breakaway province without any legitimacy ever since.
A museum country that doesn't exist
Travelling into Transnistria feels like visiting an open-air museum. Statues of Lenin are still standing in every square, framed portraits of Stalin and soviet generals are still hanging in official buildings, soviet-era placards cover the walls in the streets touting the advantages of communism and the proletarian revolution and they use their own rubble currency made of plastic and cardboard. It seems everything has remained untouched like frozen here since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, a bit like in Chernobyl, without the radiations though. Also, like in a museum, visitors are only allowed for a limited time, here six hours. The borders are carefully patrolled by Russian soldiers and it would be very risky to exceed this entitlement as diplomatic sites of most Western countries warn their citizen not to travel there as it is a no-go zone for international law.
A bargaining token for Putin
Putin may use Transnistria as a token in its bargaining to make the West accept its annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in the East of Ukraine, which is much more convenient to him as bordering the Russian territory.
However, as much as the Moldovan government would like to recover its territory with the support of the UN and the Russians might not make a too big deal of it, the larger issue of where Moldova stands in Europe will remain. This country has always been really split between two worlds, between Romania and the Soviet Union, and now between the EU and Russia. It used to be part of the Principality of Moldavia, a vassal state to the Ottoman Empire, before it was ceded to the Russian Empire in 1812, then formed part of Romania between the two world wars before being forced to join the Soviet Union in 1940 under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Then a lot of Russian people established themselves in this country.
Moldova has a thriving economy at the fringe of the EU
As a result of its history, Romanian and Russian people still cohabit in today’s Moldova, Russian is still widely spoken along with the official language – Romanian. The economy is now a thriving market economy growing at 4.5% in 2017 (source: IMF) but it is not part of the EU.
We can see numerous proponents of the reunification with Romania in the streets and places of Chisinau, Moldova’s capital, and this idea would please half of the population while displeasing the other half. However, joining Romania would mean joining the EU and NATO and that might not be easy and feasible in the foreseeable future, as Moldova remains one of the poorest country in Europe and it could exacerbate tensions with Russia.
