Transnistria - Political Status

Political Status

Transnistria is considered by the vast majority of countries as a legal part of the Republic of Moldova. Only the partially recognised states of South Ossetia and Abkhazia recognize it as a sovereign entity after it declared independence from Moldova in 1990 with Tiraspol as its declared capital.

Between 1929 and 1940, Tiraspol was the capital of the Moldavian ASSR, an autonomous republic within Ukrainian SSR, which existed from 1924 to 1940.

Although exercising no direct control over the territory, the Moldovan government passed the "Law on Basic Provisions of the Special Legal Status of Localities from the Left Bank of the Dniester" on 22 July 2005, which established Transnistria as an autonomous territorial unit within the Republic of Moldova. The law was passed without any prior consultation with Transnistrian authorities, which called it a provocation and has since ignored it.

Between 300,000 and 400,000 Transnistrians (the majority of the population) acquired Moldovan passports by 2008. No UN member state recognizes passports issued by the Transnistrian government. Russia opened a consulate in Tiraspol (against the will of Moldova) and issued about 80,000 passports to Transnistrians by the end of 2006.

There are unsettled border issues between Transnistria and Moldova. Nine villages from the Dubăsari district, including Cocieri and Doroţcaia which geographically belong to Transnistria, have been under the control of the central government of Moldova after the involvement of local inhabitants on the side of Moldovan forces during the War of Transnistria. These villages along with Varniţa and Copanca, near Bendery and Tiraspol, are claimed by the PMR. One city and six villages on the west bank are controlled by the PMR, but are considered by Moldova as a separate municipality (Bender and two villages), or part of the Căuşeni district (four villages).

Tense situations have periodically surfaced due to these territorial disputes, such as in 2005, when Transnistrian forces entered Vasilievca, in 2006 around Varniţa, and in 2007 in Dubăsari-Cocieri area, when a confrontation between Moldovan and Transnistrian forces occurred, however without any casualties.