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Does you know enough about Transnistria to talk about it ? Have you any proof of neo-Stalinist orders there?

Do you know about Transnistria? It is what Putin would like to make in Ukraine. A Pro-Russian kleptocracy with corrupt elections and mass poverty with a nostalgia for the Soviet Union. In other words, something like Russia today.

"Transnistria: a den of crime, hotbed of human rights abuses and a risk to international security

“Most people”, the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic’s burlesque propaganda website admits, “don’t know Transnistria exists”. For the sake of the survival of the Transnistrian regime, that’s probably a good thing.

Located on the left-bank of the River Dniester between Moldova to the west and the Ukraine to the east, the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica is one of the few remaining scars the Soviet Union left on South East Europe – a province suspended in a frozen conflict and stuck in a time warp where grand statues of Stalin and Lenin still dominate the skyline.

The province of Transnistria, much like the rest of the Republic of Moldova, is typical of many countries in South Eastern Europe for its rich ethnic mix, being home to diverse groups of Moldovans, Romanians, Ukrainians, Russians, Gagauz, ethnic Jews, Poles, Bulgarians and Roma. Across sovereign Moldova, Moldovans comprise around three quarters of the country’s 4.3 million citizens with ethnic Ukrainians and Russians making up much of the remainder – the bulk of who live in Transnistria.

Since 1956, Transnistria has been home to Russia’s 14th Army who has capitalized on its convenient strategic geographic position to garrison troops and stockpile munitions. The collapse of Soviet rule in Moldova had inspired hopes that such troops would depart the state’s newly-liberated territory. On August 27th 1991 the Moldovan Parliament – comprised of MPs from across the country’s territory – passed a declaration calling on Russia to "to terminate the illegal state of occupation and annexation and the withdrawal of Soviet troops from its national territory".

Despite a binding agreement between Moldova’s Prime Minister Andrejz Sangheli and Russia’s Viktor Chernomyrdin signed on 21st October 1994 in which the Russian Federation pledged to "relocate troops to other sites" and guarantee "the political settlement of the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova", the 14th Army remains in situ today.

It appears unlikely that Russian Government ever had any intention of honouring their word. More than two thousand troops Russian remain on Transnistrian soil; all but guaranteeing the survival of Smirnov’s government against all enemies, external or internal.

All Moldovan attempts to reclaim their sovereign territory have failed; the most notable being the little-known ‘War of Transnistria’ between March and July 1992 where the 14th Army strongly backed the attempts of local ethnic Russian militias in their attempts to prevent the territory from integrating with the newly-sovereign Republic of Moldova.

Since August 27th 1991, Transnistria has operated separately from Moldova as the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica – and as personal property of the family and friends of “President” Igor Smirnov. Smirnov (of which more later), who first came to Transnistria a few years before taking office as President in order to manage a large manufacturing firm on behalf of the USSR, is exactly the kind of jolly and cuddly-looking figurehead one has come to expect from authoritarian regimes over the years.

Today, the Russian Federation’s influence and grip on life in Transnistria is plain to see."

More at link: http://conservativehome.blogs.com/centreright/2009/11/transnistria-a-hotbed-of-crime-human-rights-abuses-and-a-risk-to-international-security.html

This is what will happen to Ukraine if they do not fight off the Russkies.