Disputed status of Transnistria

The political status of Transnistria, an unrecognized state on the internationally recognized territory of Moldova, has been disputed since the Transnistrian declaration of independence on September 2, 1990. This declaration sought to establish a Soviet Socialist Republic separate from the Moldavian SSR, while still part of the Soviet Union. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union and Moldova's own declaration of independence in 1991, the PMSSR was transformed into the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), commonly referred to as Transnistria. No United Nations member country recognizes the PMR's bid to sovereignty.

Moldova lost de facto control of Transnistria in 1992, in the wake of the War of Transnistria. Since that time, the PMR has received diplomatic recognition only from Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, three post-Soviet states with minimal recognition themselves.

The two main political parties in Transnistria, the Republican Party (Respublikanskaya Partiya Pridnestroviya) and Renewal (Obnovleniye) oppose any rapprochement with Chişinău. The only political party in the region to favor conditional reintegration with Moldova (on basis of federalisation) - the Social Democratic Party headed by former local MP Alexander Radchenko - after 2009 lost its influence and ceased to function. Negotiations under Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) auspices have been ongoing since 1997 based on the premise that better relations are desirable and that the restrictions on communications, movement of people, and trade flows must be removed.

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