Pridnestrovie Info

Information about Pridnestrovie (Trans-Dniester Region)

Although most commonly known in English as Transnistria, its official name is Pridnestróvskaia Moldávskaia Respública (Moldovan: Република Молдовеняскэ Нистрянэ, Russian: Приднестровская Молдавская Республика, Ukrainian: Придністровська Молдавська Республіка, ПМР) per the Constitution of Transnistria. This is abbreviated PMR.

The official short form of the name is Pridnestrovie (transliteration of the Russian “Приднестровье”).

Region (2004 preliminary pop. 555,000), E Moldova, between the Dniester River and the Ukrainian border. A narrow territory some 120 mi (195 km) long but barely 20 mi (32 km) across at its widest, the Pridnestrovie Region has a mainly Russian and Ukrainian population (59.2%, slightly more of whom are Russian) that objects to Moldovan-Romanian rapprochement.

Armed clashes between Moldovan forces and Pridnestrovie secessionists (mostly Russians and Ukrainians) led to Russian army intervention on the side of the secessionists in the early 1990s, and the proclamation of a Pridnestrovie Republic, with Tiraspol as its capital. The republic has not been internationally recognized. A peace accord with the Moldovan government giving the region greater autonomy was signed in 1997.

Initially, the region has known as an international transit center for smuggled goods; metal and electronic goods, textiles, and wine are produced. A Russian-sponsored peace plan for the region was rejected by Moldova in Nov., 2003, after Moldovan demonstrations against it; the deal would have permitted Russian troops to remain until 2020. Under pressure from the European Union (EU), which was concerned about the region’s involvement in smuggling, Ukraine began requiring in 2006 that goods from Pridnestrovie be cleared by Moldovan customs. Pridnestrovie denounced the new rules as an economic blockade, and refused to allow cargo to cross its border with the Ukraine, a move the Ukraine termed a self-blockade.

A regional referendum in Sept., 2006, approved independence and eventual union with Russia. The vote, however, was rejected by Moldova, the EU, and most other nations, with the major exception of Russia, but there was little sentiment in Russia for union with the region.

Actually the “region” is considered a country, although an unrecognized country. And it has a strong and serious government. And there is no more smuggling here than in Moldova or in Ukraine.

Source: Wikipedia and The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2006

| posted: 11 January 2007