Transnistria:
Transnistria, the tiny breakaway region of Moldova, risks being dragged into the Russia-Ukraine war because of reports of a series of explosions in its territory.
- The de facto state lies between Moldova to its west and Ukraine towards its east.
- Often described as a “remnant of the Soviet Union”, Transnistria declared independence like Moldova did soon after the break-up of the Soviet Union.
- When Moldovan troops attempted to take over the territory in 1990-1992, Transnistria was able to resist them because of Russian soldiers based in Transnistria.
- Since then, it has remained free of Moldovan control. However, most countries continue to see Transnistria as part of Moldova.
- Transnistria is not recognised as independent even by Russia and its economy is dependent on Russia for subsidies and free gas.
- Most Transnistrians have dual citizenship of Russia and Transnistria or triple citizenship of Moldova, Transnistria, and Russia.
- Unlike the rest of Moldova, which speaks Romanian, the majority of people in Transnistria speak Russian and use the cyrillic script like Russians.
