Transnistria begs Putin to ‘protect’ it against Moldova

The resolution noted that more than 220,000 Russian citizens live inside the region.

Transnistria, which sits along Moldova’s border with Ukraine and is mostly populated by Russians, Ukrainians and Moldovans, has functioned as an unrecognized state since the fall of the Soviet Union, keeping its Soviet-era hammer and sickle flag and using Russian as one of its official languages.

Moldova has repeatedly denied putting pressure on Transnistria, and accused Russia of destabilizing the situation in the country through its maneuvers in the breakaway region.

Putin, who in violation of international law annexed multiple regions of Ukraine amid Russia’s ongoing full-scale invasion, is scheduled to make a lengthy address to Russia’s parliament on Thursday.

In 2006, an internationally unrecognized referendum was held on the “free accession of Transnistria to the Russian Federation,” which was officially backed by 98 percent of Transnistrian voters.

Since then, however, Moscow has resisted any further steps toward annexation. Nevertheless, it maintains a 6,000-strong military presence in the region, which prevents any possibility of reunification with Moldova.

Denis Leven is hosted at POLITICO under the EU-funded EU4FreeMedia residency program.