3 September 2010 / REUTERS, TIRASPOL
Shunned by the world community and held at arms length even by its main ally Russia, Moldova’s tiny rebel Transdniestria defiantly marked 20 years of unilateral independence in full Soviet style on Thursday.
Tanks rolled down the capital’s main thoroughfare in a show of saber rattling while veteran separatist leader Igor Smirnov praised Russia for keeping its troops there as a guarantor of stability and attacked “nationalist fascists” in Moldova. A ragged strip of land running down Moldova’s eastern border with Ukraine, Transdniestria, population 600,000, is not recognized internationally by any country. But Smirnov, who has led the territory since it broke with Chisinau in 1990, said the examples of Kosovo and Georgia’s South Ossetia and Abkhazia showed that time was on Transdniestria’s side. ”We have the attributes to be recognized,” he said. Analysts see no breakthrough in prospect to end the Transdniestria conundrum -- one of four “frozen” conflicts left over from the Soviet Union’s breakup. Russian-speaking secessionist leaders said they broke with Chisinau because they were worried that Moldova would unite with Romania -- with which Moldova has linguistic, historical and cultural links -- leaving them stranded in an alien environment.
