Until the Second World War The
Soviet Union in the 1930s had an autonomous region of Transnistria inside
Ukraine, called the
Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (MASSR), half of whose population were
Romanian-speaking people, and with
Tiraspol as its capital. During
World War II, when
Romania, aided by
Nazi Germany, took control of
Transnistria, it did not attempt to annex the occupied territory during the war, although it planned do so in the future.
Territorial consequences of the 1992 conflict Left bank of the Dniester During the
War of Transnistria, some villages in the central part of Transnistria (on the eastern bank of the
Dniester) rebelled against the new separatist Transnistria (PMR) authorities. They have been under effective Moldovan control as a consequence of their rebellion against the PMR. These localities are: commune
Cocieri (including village
Vasilievca), commune
Molovata Nouă (including village
Roghi), commune
Corjova (including village
Mahala), commune
Coșnița (including village
Pohrebea), commune
Pîrîta, and commune
Doroțcaia. The village of
Corjova is in fact divided between PMR and Moldovan central government areas of control. Roghi is also controlled by the PMR authorities.
Right bank of the Dniester At the same time, some areas on the right bank of the Dniester are under PMR control. These areas consist of the city of
Bender with its suburb
Proteagailovca, the communes
Gîsca,
Chițcani (including villages Mereneşti and Zahorna), and the commune of
Cremenciug, formally in the
Căușeni District, situated south of the city of Bender. The breakaway PMR authorities also claim the communes of
Varnița, in the
Anenii Noi District, a northern suburb of Bender, and
Copanca, in the Căușeni District, south of Chițcani, but these villages remain under Moldovan control.
Later tensions Several disputes have arisen from these cross-river territories. In 2005, PMR militia entered
Vasilievca, which is located over the strategic road linking
Tiraspol and
Rîbnița, but withdrew after a few days. In 2006 there were tensions around
Varnița. In 2007 there was a confrontation between Moldovan and PMR forces in the
Dubăsari-
Cocieri area; however, there were no casualties. On 13 May 2007, the mayor of the village of
Corjova, which is under Moldovan control, was arrested by the PMR militsia (police) together with a councilor of Moldovan-controlled part of the
Dubăsari district.
Russian invasion of Ukraine Amid the
prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, on 14 January 2022 Ukrainian military intelligence declared that Russian special services were preparing "provocations" against Russian soldiers
stationed in Transnistria at the time to create a
casus belli for a Russian invasion of
Ukraine. On 24 February, on the first day of
the invasion, there were allegations that some rockets that had hit Ukraine had been launched from Transnistria, although
Moldova's
Ministry of Defense denied this. On 4 March, Ukraine blew up a railway bridge on its border with Transnistria to prevent the 1,400 Russian troops stationed in the breakaway territory from crossing into Ukraine. Later, on 6 March, there were again claims that
attacks that had hit
Vinnytsia's
airport had been launched from Transnistria, although Moldovan officials again denied this and said that they had been launched from Russian ships in the
Black Sea. Amid rumors that Transnistria would attack Ukraine,
Transnistrian President Vadim Krasnoselski declared Transnistria to be a peaceful state which never had any plans to attack its neighbors and that those who spread these allegations were people without control over the situation or provocateurs with malicious intentions. He also made reference to the large ethnically
Ukrainian population of Transnistria and how
Ukrainian is taught in Transnistrian schools and is one of the official languages of the republic. However, in March, an image of the
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko standing in front of a battle plan map of the invasion of Ukraine was leaked. This map showed a supposed incursion of Russian troops from the Ukrainian city port of
Odesa into Transnistria and Moldova, revealing that Transnistria could become involved in the war. Ukrainian military officials had identified the establishment of a "land corridor" to Transnistria as one of Russia's primary objectives since the first day of the invasion. On 22 April 2022, Russia's brigadier general Rustam Minnekayev in a defence ministry meeting said that Russia planned to extend its Mykolaiv–Odesa front in the Ukraine war further west to include the Transnistria on the Ukrainian border with Moldova. Minnekaev announced that the plan of Russia's military action in Ukraine included taking full control of Southern Ukraine and achieving a land corridor to Transnistria. He also talked about the existence of supposed evidence of "oppression of the Russian-speaking population" of Transnistria, echoing Russia's justifications for the war in Ukraine. The
Ministry of Defence of Ukraine described this intention as
imperialism, saying that it contradicted previous Russian claims that it did not have territorial ambitions in Ukraine". Moldova officially rejected this suggestion from Ukraine, expressing its support only for a peaceful outcome of the conflict. On 12 September 2024, a Moldovan soldier was killed under unclear circumstances in the demarcation line of Transnistria. On 29 December 2024, Moldova's Transnistria region faced gas cuts as a transit deal with Ukraine expired, prompting fears of power shortages. Moldova denies owing debts to Gazprom and has secured alternative supplies from Romania to manage the situation. The agreement reached in May 2025 by Moldova and the Romanian-owned
OMV Petrom will account for 25% of Moldova's gas demands starting in 2027, via the Neptun Deep project. Transnistria, after rejecting several EU offers, has secured a deal with the Hungarian
MET Gas and Energy Marketing group. ==Position of the PMR government advocates==