What is it like to live in a country that doesn't exist? The about 400,000 people in Transnistria do so and they do quite well.
Transnistria is a small piece of land on the eastern bank of the river Dniester. It officially belongs to the Republic of Moldova.
Though in fact it's autonomous since 1990, no other country accepts the independence, not even big brother Russia. Yet Moscow has control.
Local administration is just a puppet on a string. There are Russian troops in the area to "guard former Soviet ammunition storages". 馃
Local "government" is called "supreme soviet", just like in the bad old times. Until 1992 there were violent fights for Transnistria.
For more that 25 years now it's a so called frozen conflict. Chances are low to solve it. As long as it exists Moldova can't join the EU.
The Transnistrian economy is controlled by an oligarchic company. It owns industries, gas stations, supermarkets, hotels, a football club...
Its name is "Sheriff" And it's present everywhere in the "capital" Tiraspol.
This is the "border" between Transnistria and the rest of Moldova. There are customs officers and international peace keeping troops.
Hammer and sickle - still the most important symbols for the oligarchic-communist regime in Transnistria.
All photos by me except for the map. It's from Wikipedia (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria).