“Transnistrian tuition has become a big problem. Since 1 January 2008 we cannot go to Ukraine or Moldova: we cannot leave Transnistria”, explains Sergei Simonenko, Deputy Foreign Minister of Transnistria, in his official office. “But it doesn’t matter, we are in the middle of an important road that connects Russia and Europe; we could easily cut it!” This

would be the second “cut”, since the first was completed 15 years ago, just on the left side of the Dniester River. After a short and brutal war, a republic called Transdniester or Transnistria was founded, one of the countries that nobody yet recognizes. It is officially the territory of Moldova, but the “other side of Dniester” has already functioned as an independent country for 15 years.

After the fall of the Soviet giant, dozens of nations proclaimed their independence, from Estonia to Tajikistan. Moldova was one of them. But the Moldovans not only declared their independence, but also announced that they would join Romania. After all, until 1940 Moldova was only a region of Romania, and both countries have the same Latin language. “On the left side of the Dniester River, most of us are Russians and Ukrainians; why should we join them?” says Simonenko.

There are three versions of the national anthem here: in Russian, Ukrainian and Moldovan (Romanian). The melody is always the same, of course, but the lyrics are not a literal translation of each other. “Let’s raise our factories,” says the Russian version. Not surprisingly, most of Moldova’s industry stopped on this side of the Dniester. The loss left the Latin country in the dark. 90% of electricity was produced in Transnistria.

“Chisinau (the capital of Moldova) usually calls us separatists, but they are all wrong: we did not want to separate ourselves from the Soviet Union,” says the deputy minister. Today we are not communists, we have kept the Soviet symbols to this day just because we are proud of our past,” he clarifies, after extending his business card with sickle and hammer.

Lenin and the Sheriff

Symbols evoking the Soviet past are everywhere in Tiraspol, the capital of Transnistria. Most striking, Lenin’s sculpture in red granite. It is located in front of the government headquarters and will probably have the best views over Tiraspol from its pedestal. The main Russian revolutionary is looking towards Moldova, the guardian of the last little clue of his empire.

The main street of Subarov passes along with the river to the south. It takes about 15 minutes to cross this wide avenue on foot to the point where it meets Gagarin Street. If you’re going on a tour, it’s hard not to notice the souvenirs on the right: tombs with the image of the martyrs of the war, a red star tank parked on a pole, eternal fire... There is always a modest traffic and the trolleybuses that have passed on our left, or the soldiers who ride bicycles, barely break the silence of this area.A

little later Che Guevara and Vladimir Putin appear next to each other in a strange poster. It is not a contradiction; indeed, the second received a resounding success last December in the Russian parliamentary elections. The Transnistrians have their own passport, yes, but to be able to leave the country many people use the one issued by Moscow. And it also serves to vote, like that of every Russian. Others chose Ukraine as their second homeland. Among them, Yanukovych has won the elections in Kiev. In the kiosk in front of

Dom Sovietov (local parliament), you can buy stamps from Transnistria. As with their passports – and now their registration – they are only valid inside the country. The same applies to the Transnistrian rubles used in the payment.

In any case, it is enough to walk along the main street of Tiraspol to prove that communism is only a matter of aesthetics: The branches of the Russian Gazprombank consortium, jewelry stores and exchange offices, among others, are crude indicators of the privatization policy of this picturesque region. Of all these, the Sheriff's Company is in charge. Many say that behind this monopoly lies the family of Igor Smirnov, president of Transnistria. True or not, the chains of gas stations and supermarkets, the telephone company, the casino in the center of Tiraspol, the brandy distillery, the football field are owned by the Sheriffs... As paradoxical as it may seem, football is the only thing that connects the two shores of Dniester. The Sheriff Tiraspol has dominated the Moldovan league since 2000. On the other hand, the Moldovan national team plays its international matches in the local stadium; the Sheriff football field is the only one that meets the requirements of FIFA.

Stanislav Lazovski doesn't like football, but he knows President Smirnov very well. This 25-year-old lawyer with Polish and German ancestry is also a government employee. However, his profession does not stand in the way of expressing disagreement: “The president of a country should not get his hands dirty in dark business. He should work for the people, not their interests.” Like many others here, he has just completed his studies at the Ukrainian University of Odessa. Only 100 kilometers away is the city that evokes the movie Potemkin Battleship.

“Most foreign journalists come to Transnistria for a day,” says Lazovski, “they take a picture of Lenin’s sculpture and other Soviet symbols, and here’s the article: “The Soviet Union is still alive”, “Transnistria: The open-air museum of the Soviet Union”... We are not communists, but a modern country; why keep all these symbols? I’ll take them all out today!” The anger

of this young man is understandable, because this is not the only cliché that his country has to overcome. There is also the issue of arms trafficking, a rumor that Moldova has spread with enthusiasm to the point of generating concern for the European Union. Brussels immediately sent the border guards to this border that no one recognizes. At the moment, observers have only noticed the smuggling of alcohol and chickens.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia, among others, often face similar accusations. At the international level, there is always a single voice, and it is not the voice of unrecognized countries at all. However, just being a “legal” country is not enough. It seems that “inappropriate government” and “arms dealer” have recently become synonymous. Examples of this are the Ukraine of Leonid Kuchma (until the Orange Revolution takes place) or the Iraq of Saddam Hussein, which is better known to us. The expression “weapons of mass destruction” was heard repeatedly...

Towards Gernika in Transnistria

Although part of Transnistria, the city of Benderi is located on the right bank of Dniester. It is barely nine kilometers from Tiraspol, but the trolleybus takes 40 minutes to connect the centers of the two cities. Benderic is the trolleybus driver Valentin Tarasov and, of course, he has already crossed the bridge over Dniester countless times. His iron arches or the checkpoint of Russian peace troops, for example, are already familiar to him. But the routine of the years has not been able to erase the hard images seen from this bridge: “I was 14 years old when the Moldavians attacked Bende. We didn't want to leave the house and we spent three days being bombed. The situation became unbearable and my mother and I decided to flee to Tiraspol. As we were walking along the bridge, I noticed a man in the boat; he was taking the bodies out of the river as if he were fishing. It seems that he was then nicknamed Charon for transporting the dead in his boat. A lot of people call it that.” In

June 1992, the Moldovan army entered Benderi to “restore constitutional order.” Half the city was incinerated and the houses that remained standing were looted by Moldovan volunteers. Many of them were Romanians, in line with the cause of their Latino relatives. Others came to fight for money.

“The same day we celebrated Tiraspol, I saw a sniper in that window,” says Tarasov, pointing to the block of houses where the shootings are still uncovered. “He was finally caught; he was a woman, a Latvian. He said, ‘Don’t kill me, I have three children.’

About three years ago, the British television channel BBC went to Transnistria to make a documentary. During the presentation of the events in Benderi, the English presenter literally repeated the version given by Moldova: “Benderi was attacked by separatists.” Tarasov responds angrily: “How could we attack our city, our home? There were thousands of deaths in our country, most of the ordinary people. This is our Guernica.” These right-wing Slavs in

Dniester suffered one of the most tragic episodes of the war. Apparently, the “picturesque” location of Benderi does not bring anything good. “I’m originally from Ukraine, but since I was born on the right side of the river, Kiev denied me my passport. Then Moscow offered a Russian passport to all the former citizens of the Soviet Union, and I got mine then,” explains the trolleybus driver.

“The Orange Revolution has led Ukraine westward and we have now become isolated. It was recently reported that Bucharest was distributing Romanian passports among the Moldovians. Many people in our country have also applied for a Moldovan passport in the hope that it will be useful for working in the European Union in the future. Some call them traitors, losers, but well, I understand them. Russia is far away and we are alone. We don’t know what will happen.”