TransnistriaMapDecember The history of the country in one paragraph. The USSR dissolved, Moldova was left to its own devices. Some lawmakers proposed making Moldovan the only official language. One of the regions—Transnistria—declared that it was having none of that and proclaimed its sovereignty. Moldova sent in troops. Transnistria responded with armed resistance. A thousand people died. Russia came in to break up the fight. * * * 20 years went by. The Russian military still retains a peacekeeping contingent on the border between Moldova and Transnistria. But the independence of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR) has not been recognized by a single normal state—only by Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia (which are all unrecognized themselves). Ideologically, Transnistria is still stuck in the USSR. It’s not that Soviet awards and orders continue to decorate the highway into the capital.  It’s that the republic’s current symbols remain exactly the same.  It’s as though people were in a spaceship without any contact to the outside world, hurtling through outer space further and further away from the solar system, and convinced that they’re still in the USSR. Cities are still awarded with orders here.  The city of Bendery is awarded the Order of the Republic. Exhibitions dedicated to civil war heroes continue to take place. 
The Tiraspol Municipal Military and Historical Museum of the Headquarters of the G. I. Kotovsky Cavalry Brigade. “The Birth of a New Statehood” / An exhibition dedicated to the 130th anniversary of the birthday of G. I. Kotovsky and the 20th anniversary of the Museum / Opening hours: Stores still close during regular hours to take inventory.  Inventory Fences with diamonds, from the 1970s.  The traffic signs are still the three-dimensional, well-made ones from the 1980s.  There are old Soviet soda machines on the street.  Kiosks for the sale of beer and kvas, which we had thought remained only in Pripyat, are everywhere.  Beer Almost all the window frames are still the original wooden ones.  The Pravda newspaper is still published.  The signposts are ornate.  A street sign.  V. I. Lenin St. A building number.  A license plate.  Old kiosks.  A new kiosk.  Magazines, Periodicals, Newspapers An old traffic light.  A new traffic light.  A classic old Soviet trash can from 1960s. The column-can.  New trash cans.  Trash dumpsters.  The post office. To send a postcard abroad, you have to use a Moldovan stamp. But within Transnistria the internal, unrecognized stamps will do just fine.  Currency exchange rate boards always display the countries’ flags. The local currency is the Transnistrian ruble.  Payphones.  A traffic diagram.  Signs at a public transit stop.  Route 7, TIM factory, by request only before 8:00. Dinamo, Solnechny district, route #23 The stops themselves.  The bus terminal has been turned into a furniture store.  Things which are not permitted.  Stop! Protected by guard dogs The market.  Oh, speaking of the market. A unique situation has developed in Transnistria: almost all commerce in the republic is controlled by one single company called Sheriff. Sheriff is building a stadium, owns a chain of supermarkets and gas stations, an ad agency, cellular network, TV channel, bakes bread, produces kefir, and operates all the wholesale food warehouses. In other words, all the other food retailers have to get their stock from Sheriff’s depots. The entire customs agency is also on Sheriff’s payroll.  Sheriff even puts forward its own candidate—Kaminsky—at the presidential elections. His portrait hangs in every Sheriff supermarket. Each poster bears a remarkably dumb stamp: “Endorsed by Russia.” On other posters, Kaminsky appears with Putin.  Endorsed by Russia A restaurant.  Restaurant. Cosmos Restaurant Practically the entire motor vehicle fleet of the USSR can be seen in use here, from Moskvich cars to LAZ buses and RAF vans.  A highway patrol post.  A rare sign.  Attention! Dangerous intersection. Changing lanes is strictly prohibited Judging by the utterly idiotic “Let’s declare war on death” billboard, there are drugs here. 
Let’s declare war on death! The “Society Against Drugs” Foundation. Crisis hotline: The Bender fortress was haphazardly restored and immediately decorated with unbelievably repulsive and tacky ground tiles.  Someone messed up the last letter in the name of Park Oktyabrsky (which should look like “Й” but got flipped).  A sign that displays the number of people injured and killed in car accidents, like in Tahiti.  City of Bender, PMR. 51 traffic accidents, 45 injuries and 6 deaths in the 11 months of 2011 The grapes have almost turned into raisins.  Life’s not bad at all for the unrecognized citizens here. Almost every Transnistrian also has a Moldovan passport. |
