October 30, 2012
Recognition of Transnistria may not be that far away, as events on both sides of its borders seem to be going in its favour.
On its eastern border, the outcome of the Ukrainian parliamentary election (see yesterday's post)lent towards the pro-Russian parties, while to its west, the rest of Moldova and Romania may be edging closer towards reunification, leading Russia to insinuate that it would fully recognise the sovereignty of Transnistria, if the the two countries were to merge. Moldova considers Transnistria, which declared its independence in 1990, part of its territory and the breakaway territory is not fully recognised by any United Nations member state. Nevertheless, if the benefits of unification to Romania were substantial enough, who is to say that the strip of mostly ethnic Russians will not be sacrificed by Moldova?
Transnistria, with its capital Tiraspol, has already managed to assert itself effectively as a presidential republic. It has its own parliament, security forces, postal system, currency and flag. It had split away after the breakup of the Soviet Union out of fear of being absorbed into Romania with the rest of Moldova. Whereas much of Moldova, or Bessarabia as part of it was called, had a strong affiliation with Romania, the territory of Transnistria was, since the late 1700s, very much under the influence of Russia. For Moldova to let it be, might not be such a bad idea.
Alexander Suvorov, founder of Tiraspol
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