Afrasianet - When  the sun sends its first ray over the city's Soviet-era buildings,  families have already huddled behind iron barriers, and joy almost jumps out of their eyes on this unusually warm day. Their appearance may indicate that they are preparing for a royal wedding.

But in Transnistria (also pronounced Transnistrès), a small 400-kilometre region on the border between Moldova and Ukraine, Independence Day is one of the most important celebrations that citizens await from year to year, even if this eastern European country, formerly called the "Moldavian Republic of Prednistrovia", is not officially recognized.

Although Transnistria declared independence from Moldova in 1990, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, it has not received official recognition from any UN member state, making it a unique place.

Its capital, Tiraspol, 70 kilometers from the Moldavian capital of Chisinau, is so Soviet that it is often described as trapped in the Soviet legacy, embodied in the monumental statue of Lenin in front of the Soviet-style parliament building and streets named after communist poles.

Not surprisingly, the parade, held to mark the twenty-ninth anniversary of Transnistrian independence, also bears the hallmarks of the Soviet era, from the movements performed by soldiers at the ceremony to Soviet-era military vehicles from which army commanders appear and salute soldiers.

Although Transnistria is not officially recognized, this European country has its own government, national currency and independent passport.

But the Transnistrian passport is virtually worthless for its 500,000 inhabitants, as it is recognized only in Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh and South Ossetia, all of which are disputed territories and are not directly accessible. That is why most of its inhabitants hold two or three nationalities, such as Russian, Moldavian and Ukrainian.

Since declaring independence 30 years ago, the population of the capital Tiraspol has fallen by at least a third and most of its residents have been forced to leave in search of jobs in Russia as economic prospects dwindled in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

But despite the hardship of life in this republic, whose population is underpaid lower than Moldova (Europe's poorest country), I have discovered that many of its people are satisfied with their lives.

Andrey Smolinsky, founder of Transnistria Tours, said: "We enjoy good weather and an abundance of local products such as vegetables and fruits, and Transnistria receives support from abroad." Smolenski alludes to the aid Transnistria receives from Russia, where it builds hospitals and schools, supplies energy and finances the pensions of its citizens.

The population of Transnistria is divided into three ethnic groups of equal size, but the Russian language is the most widely spoken among the population. The city buildings fly over the Russian flag alongside the Transnistrian flag – the only one in the world still carrying a hammer and sickle.

Anatoly Deron, academic supervisor at the School of Political Studies in the capital Tiraspol, says that Transnistrian citizens see themselves as part of the Russian cultural space, not to mention that Russia is the guarantor of peace in Transnistria.

Although Russian troops are involved in peacekeepers with troops from Moldova and Transnistria, the presence of Russia's 1,500-strong operating forces in Transnistria has become a nuisance for officials in the West alike.

However, by their presence in Transnistria, Russian forces have the support of the pro-Russian Transnistrian government, which sees Russian forces as the pillar of stability and security in the country.

This may be due to the stumbling blocks Transnistria has faced on its way to independence. In the late eighties, nationalist sentiment in the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic, now called the Republic of Moldova, grew to the point of disturbing the Russian-speaking ethnic minorities of Transnistria, then part of Moldova.

The decision to ban speaking Russian was the straw that broke the camel's back, and prompted Transnistria to declare independence from Moldova to protect its cultural heritage, becoming the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic of Prednstrovie in September 1990.

Tensions between Moldova and Transnistria escalated into a military conflict in March 1992 that killed at least 1,000 people until a ceasefire was declared in July of the same year. With the exception of a few minor ceasefire violations, Transnistria has been at peace ever since.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin says a request has been submitted to Moscow by residents of the Transdniestria region demanding to join Russia.

Transdniestria, which broke away from Moldova in 1990, is seeking to join Russia, scaring the West after Reuters quoted Rogozin as saying on his Facebook account that the Russian delegation brought with him an appeal to the Russian authorities by Transdniestria "on joining Russia," noting that this appeal, despite its "symbolic importance and not of a legal nature, but it has become important for us now."

Two months after the start  of the Russian Atlantic War, the commander of Russia's  Central Military District, Rustam Minkaev, said the Kremlin had plans to cross into Transnistria in northern Moldova, as part of a strategy to create a land corridor to Crimea that the Russians returned in 2014.

According to the Russian news agency TASS, Minakiev said during a meeting of the defense industry in Russia's Sverdlovsk region: "Control of southern Ukraine is another route to Transnistria, where facts point to the persecution of the Russian-speaking population." He added that his country was at war "against the world" and that even "if we were not the ones who started it, we would end it."

Russia sees the entry into the region as an extension of its plan to control Ukraine's coastline, support  the  Russian-majority population and curb Moldova's accession to the European Union after a formal request was made in March. However, the move could widen the war, threatening to turn it into a world war with a high probability of NATO and the EU entering the frontline.

Transnistria announced its separation from Moldova shortly after the country's independence from the Soviet Union, being unlike the rest of the Moldovan territory, where the northern region is predominantly populated by Russians and Ukrainians. As in Georgia Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the Ukrainian Donbass, Russia justifies its ambition in Transnistria by defending the allegedly persecuted Russian minority.

Russia's military presence in Transnistria dates back to 1992, when Moscow placed an estimated 1,500 of its soldiers there as "peacekeepers."According  to Deutsche Welle, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on whether Russia had identified additional targets in Transnistria, as well as on how Moscow sees the political future of southern Ukraine.

Transnistria is a major point of contention between Moscow and Chisinau, and the Moldovan government has previously opposed the Russian military presence anddemanded that the country's  president, Maya Sandhu, evacuate it more than once since taking office in 2020. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement that: "Russia is violating the territorial integrity of Moldova with the presence of its troops in Transnistria."

The Russian ambassador's presence in December at the inauguration of the President of the Republic in Transnistria angered Moldova, which responded in a statement saying: "The so-called presidential elections in the Transnistrian region are illegal and contrary to Moldova's constitutional foundations. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration views the participation of the head of the Russian diplomatic mission in such actions as an unfriendly step."

The move to join the European Union is seen by Russia as a threat to the entry of former Soviet Union countries into the European Union.

But most importantly, the United States believes that Maldovia can be an additional pillar to enable the West, which is mobilizing all its power to use its territory in the war against Russia, but this has not yet been achieved, which does not mean that America will stop inciting Maldovia to join the West against Russia.