I\u2019ve\u00a0been on\u00a0holiday\u00a0to a country that\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0officially exist. It has its own border, passport, flag,\u00a0currency\u00a0and army but no one\u00a0recognizes\u00a0it \u2013 not even its main sponsor, Vladimir Putin.\u00a0Transnistria is sandwiched between its proper motherland Moldova \u2013 which is itself really Romania \u2013 and Ukraine, which Putin thinks is part of his motherland.\u00a0Confused? It\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0get any easier.<\/p>\n
In 1992 there was a short war between the newly created state of Moldova and separatist, ethnic Russians which resulted in\u00a0nearly 1,000\u00a0deaths and the breakaway \u201ccountry\u201d (via a peace accord) policed by Russian \u201cpeacekeepers.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0They are the first troops you see when you reach the Moldova\/Transnistria border and collect your 12-hour, flimsy paper visa. Armed but disinterested, they waved us through to the next checkpoint where more soldiers did the same.<\/p>\n
Sadly,\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0old enough to have visited the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s and entering Transnistria is very much like a trip back\u00a0to\u00a0the USSR. A smattering of Ladas, officials in\u00a0Mr.\u00a0Byrite-esque\u00a0ill-fitting suits, busts of Lenin, a brutalist Parliament building still called the House of Soviets and a T34 commemorative tank in the capital Tiraspol\u2019s main square are all a throwback to the inglorious days of the first communist state.<\/p>\n
To be frank,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a weird place. A bacon rasher of land occupying around\u00a01,600 square miles, Transnistria is stuck in a time warp not really of its residents\u2019 making. The communist hammer and\u00a0sickle\u00a0and busts of dear old Lenin seem to be everywhere. The red and green flag of Transnistria and Russian\u00a0tricolor\u00a0fly proudly over government buildings and in public squares leaving visitors in no doubt they are on Russian soil.<\/p>\n
Adding to the weirdness is the presence of a dominant company called Sheriff with its familiar sheriff\u2019s badge logo and distinctive blue-colored\u00a0marketing. Set up and owned by ex-KGB members turned mini oligarchs, Sheriff owns supermarkets, a distillery, car dealerships, gas stations and a phone network among other enterprises, which are all thriving no doubt due to their commercial acumen rather than their near monopoly position and political links.<\/p>\n