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You forgot to mention that the gas that the russian federation provides to the transnistria is not cheap, but it's free, and with that gas transnistria sells electricity back to moldova, 80% of which comes from that region. If russia were to cut off the gas, there will be no electricity for most of moldova. And this is the reason why moldova can't really abandon the plans of reintegration.

One very ironic detail you missed: the Transnistrian side was not only supported by the Russian 14th Guard Army but also by a sizable number of volunteers from the Ukrainian nationalist group UNA-UNSO (which over time merged into Right Sector). How times have changed.

Once again, you deliver another factual and unbiased video on a very complicated issue. Well done!

One mistake. Vassal state doesn't mean it was occupied or ruled by Turks. And when the Russian empire started war against the Ottoman empire, Moldova didn't fight against Russians, they from the start took the side of Russian Empire and fought side by side against Ottomans. But in result, as russian "respect", Russian empire occupied Bessarabia.

Western Moldavian here (the part from Romania). Your account of history is super duper spot on! Kudos!

Thanks for the in-depth review! Very well-researched and factual! Although I'm surprised you didn't dwell on Romanian-Moldovan relations post-independence or the Transnistrian economic system.

I lost it when the romanians were speaking numa numa eii 🤣🤣

Great video! You should also make a video about Georgia's conflicts with Russia regarding Abkhazia and South Ossetia. It also is very similar to the situations in Ukraine and Moldova.

I can see you are putting a lot of work in making , creating and editing each image of this video. Sir , I salute you and your craft. I wish you succes with your channel.

I went in knowing nothing about the region and came out knowing at least a skeleton of the country's history. Thank you for this.

Woah! The work for this video should have been very hard, and the result came very pretty! Thanks for teaching Geohistory and Geopolitics in such a simple, good and understandable way. 😎

5:43 Romania didn't "annex" the land of Bessarabia in 1918, it voluntarely united with the motherland

Very good video, but the major problem is that you didn't include Northern Bukovina in Greater Romania's and Moldavia's borders

Honestly, the first time I read the title I thought it said "Transnistria - Moldova's Dumbass?"

How you depict integration of Transnistria in Moldova is so funny and so true!

Another great video. I always found Tranistria super interesting, how it's like the Soviet Union never fell there. Just like all the other breakaway areas that Russia helped establish. They're like a glimpse of what empires were like in the past.

Very nice video! You explained the situation really good. Good luck with your channel

Thank you for the explainer. I always looked at Moldova and wondered how it came to be.

Love your vids. Unbiased and with some good jokes :D Greetings from Serbia.

you are great at explaining politcal issues at a funny way. GREAT work !

Great video, just one small mistake I noticed: at 4:20 and 6:30 the maps of Moldavia and Romania only contain the southern part of Bukovina, even though the region wasn't split until 1940 when the Soviet Union demanded it along with Bessarabia. Other than that the video was very enjoyable.

3:50 you added wrongly on the map the people who settled budjack, in that time on the territory where you put the gagauz and ukrainian country balls, the settlements were vlachian as well, the gagauz arrived in the 19th century in Budjack after the Tatars were expelled, and in the tsarist census from 1817, the Ruthenians lived only in the north part of Basarabia, but it's a great video anyways

So we just not gonna talk about how this man slipped in a “numa numa” reference?

Thank you so much for this video. I was born and grown up in Transnistria (1992). I have been living all my life here. I saw the consequences after the war 1992 with my own eyes. I leanrt so much about the conflict and history of this little strip of the land during my school and university time. I read and wayched many different points of view. And it is very VERY sad that most of the countries have very bad and negative attitude towards Transnistria. And I would really fall on my knees in front of you, because you did this video so kind and truly that even I could never do it. PLEASE try to spread this video AS FAR AS you only can. PLEASE - tell as many people as you can . People in Transnistria are NOT BANDITOS from 90-ies, are NOT SOVIET COMMUNIST, and of course are NOT AGRESSIVE neither to Ukraine nor to Moldova.

Well presented video :D I look forward to more videos in the future :)

Nice video! I would love it if you made a similar one about Georgia as well

Great work again, thanks

This is all complicated by the fact that Moldova and Romania consider themselves essentially one people, and majorities of both countries agree in principle that they should be one state as well; this is much easier said than done, but if Moldova successfully accedes to the EU it will have effectively cleared the path for domestic economic and cultural integration even if the two peoples maintain technically-separate state structures.

Always love your video. I would suggest subtitle for your future video for broader audience. Appreciate your work!

I don't know if you guys know but around 2019 Romanian president Klaus Iohannis was asked a question by a romanian cytizen if Romania could unite with Moldova and he said "this wont help the country with anything but we might work out on something on this in 2025"

I'm literally dying from laughter at 5:41 XD

Great video! I’m happy to know the history of my country❤ keep up the good work!

Great video! As a Moldavian I can confirm that the research was thorough and everything said was true. Keep up the good work

5:41 For those who didn’t get the joke, the speech bubbles are some lyrics to the song “Dragostea Din Tei” by the Moldovan band O-Zone. Some of you may know it as the “Numa numa” song

I am from The Republic of Moldova and everything that you waid is right. When the war in ukraine started, everyone was freaking out and a lot of people left the country to Romania to escape being the next county involved in a war. Great vid.

An interesting fact: In 2003, negotiations were held between Russia and Moldova on ways to resolve the conflict in Transnistria. As a result, a plan was created called the "Kozak Memorandum" (on behalf of the Russian official who headed the delegation). The plan assumed the federalization of Moldova, the autonomous status of Transnistria as part of a single state and the delimitation of the language issue. The Moldovan delegation had previously agreed, but something had changed the night before the signing. In the morning, Moldovan diplomats refused to sign the agreement. Evil and deceitful people talk about American diplomats who interfered in the negotiations and put pressure on the President of Moldova, but this, of course, is not true. Have American politicians ever hindered peace initiatives in troubled regions?

the OSCE and EU, can build on the technical and economic agreements they have helped facilitate in the last few years. Thus far these agreements have not meant much to large parts of Transdniestrian society, which still exists in semi-isolation. Most Transdniestrians would benefit from a greater international presence on the ground, in particular to work on reforming the local economy.

I visited Moldova a month ago and they still relays on the buildings that the Russians built except for Chișinău and there is a lot of Russian influence

Several items left out or purposefully changed: 1) Tsarist Russia under Alexander II did wage war in the Balkans against the Turks, but not to expand Russia, only so Eastern Orthodox countries could gain independence. 2) Russia is not against countries on its borders trading with the West or Westernizing. Russia itself has pursued both until 2014. When US entities sponsor nationalist uprisings (color revolutions), Russia understands the goal is to expand NATO, posing a direct threat to Russia's existence. 3) Russia prefers neutrality for countries on its borders. 4) Russia launched its full scale invasion in 2022 of Ukraine because they were provoked. Zelensky, on Biden administration urging, renewed the shelling of the Donbas and rejected the Munich Accords and negotiations.

thank you for the information.

7:15 it should be mentioned that this administrative "swap" was done intentionally to sow disunity between the different socialist republic. As long as Ukrainians and Moldovians can't agree on a border, they can't unite against the USSR - a classic divide and conquer strategy that was also employed by other imperialist countries, such as the British Empire and France in Africa and the Middle East.

Very good video explained by a foreigner but people in Moldova like me has more to talk about the conflict but is good ))))

Transnistria makes no sense as part of Moldova. The Soviets artificially created a separate Moldovan Transnistria to try to expand into the Balkans, but the territory of Transnistria was never part of Moldova before then. The Moldovans were always a minority there.

Nice report, pretty accurate. Need to make one small correction 1365 date of foundation of old Moldova by Bogdan Voevod, not by Dragos. I am from Pridnestrovie

So when the brake away province of Serbia, Kosovo wants to go its all fine, but Donbass or Transistria is not? Alot of double standards these days

Well done!

I watch 14 seconds of the first video I've ever seen from you and I'm already subscribed

Thanks for your information and analysis on this little known country and neighbours

Не думал, что кто-то будет говорить о моей стране! Спасибо автору за ролик! Я от всего сердца желаю вас всем счастья и мира! Всем привет из Приднестровья!

Thank you for this

Thanks for this job!

Thanks

Great Video!!

Transnistrian here. Great review, the best so far I've seen about our country. Although there are some remarkable parts of our history that I would add: 1. In the 17 century there was a period of time when the Crimean Khanate was a vassal of Ottoman Empire. During that time the region of Yedisan was formed (modern day Odessa region of Ukraine and Transnistria), where people were given liberty on their religion and many Bulgarians were sent to. However, main population consisted of Ukrainian Cossacks and Moldovans, and so far it was de-facto autonomous as there would be an elected ruler, the Hetman (just like in Ukraine/Zaporozhian Sich), but was approved by Sultan or later Khan. The capital city was Dubossary, which is a modern-day Transnistrian city. 2. In the 17-18 century Ukrainian Cossacks made an attempt to introduce democratic regime within their land, and the "Agreements and Assignments of Rights and Freedoms of Zaporozhian Army" (or just "First Ukrainian Constitution") was written by Philipe Orlyk in Bender, a Turkish fortress and modern day Transnistrian city. Philipe Orlyk was the right-hand of Ukrainian Hetman Ivan Mazepa, which was brutally eliminated by Russians for seeking independence. 3. Continuing 18 century, Russian Empress has founded the fortress of Tiraspol, modern-day capital city of Transnistria, and has cancelled Ukrainian autonomy (contradicting the Pereyaslavl Agreement with Moscow Duchy) and destroyed Zaporozhian Sich, leading Ukrainians into serfdom. Cossacks of Transnistrian region asked to let them for the new cossack army, and it was granted in form of Black Sea Cossack Army with the capital in Slobodziya (now town in Transnistria), yet the land was never given to them, and vast majority of the people were moved to Kuban region (modern-day Russia). Cossacks there tried to establish their old lifestyle and called their capital the New Sich, but Russians didn't like that and reformed them into a similar to the Don Cossack Army structure with the capital name of Yekaterinoslavl ("Town of Kathrine's Glory") 4. With the Bolshevik revolution in the beginning of 20th century, Reds killed Russian Tsar and his family, thus denouncing the Pereyaslavl Agreement, and creating circumstances for Ukrainians to separate. Because of that, big part of the Whites (anti-Bolshevik) go to the side of Ukrainian People Republic (Transnistria included). This caused panic in Basarabia, which declared independence from Russia as Basarabian Democratic Republic and, being concerned that Ukrainian forces will later on capture them, invited Romanians to annex them. 5. With industrialization of Transnistrian region during Soviet time (70s) a lot of Russians came to Transnistria for work. Meanwhile, with Soviet politics of "rootization" many Ukrianians and Bulgarians on this territory were renamed into Moldovans on paper. There also was a policy of making national languages secondary, which removed Moldovan/Romanian and Ukrainian languages from use. 6. In 1992 Ukraininan nationalistic organisations, that were collaborating with Nazi Germany were helping Transnistrians to fight the war against the Moldovans, with their HQ in a local Polish village Rashkov. There was supposed to be a referendum held on reuniting with Ukraine, but Ukrainian president refused to accept such a thing. Also, Transnistrians don't see themselves similar to Donbass region, because we kinda have more rights for independence (it is all the exploitation of jurisdictional stuff, but still). Like, in the declaration of independence of the Republic of Moldova it is stated that Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement is illegal, but because of that very agreement most of PMR territory was united with Moldova. And that territory doesn't go back to Ukraine, because in their declaration it is stated that the agreement is illegal, yet the borders stay as those of Ukrainian SSR. Hence, there is a void to be filled, which lead to declaring a new country via referendum (if you find hard to pronounce MASSR, then try saying Pridniestrovian Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, hehe). But then there's a Montevideo convention which lists a set of "rules" for such referendums, and one of them is that there should be no army of a foreign state present on the territory, whereas there was Russian/Soviet army in Tiraspol. So here we are. And what Russians did to Transnistria to hold it aside is a huge topic that may be worth a separate review.

Long time watcher, but first time commenter here; anyway, really interesting video as always and, like plenty of other people have said, it definitely would be interesting to see another video about Abkhazia and South Ossetia!

Really like your new globeBall

you said that romania annexed Bessarabia when in fact it was a union

Would it help if Moldova united with Romania now? The moment the ink dried, the Moldovans would be under the umbrella of both the EU and NATO, without having to crawl on their bellies for years to get it. Russia's objections wouldn't matter, because they already played that card with Ukraine, which freed up Finland & Sweden to join NATO (and because if Russia is acting on a desire to enlarge themselves on the geopolitical map, then they'd have to anchor themselves in places like these as well.) Since Transdnistria is not acknowledged as an official state by anyone (not even Russia) then it's nominally still Moldova's to do with what they please; they only hadn't before because they lacked the force to do so, but now the tables have turned. At the same time as they rejoin Romania, they (or the Romanians) could set the border with Ukraine back at the Dniester. This would give the Ukrainians both a territorial and strategic victory, and allow the Ukrainians to ship goods easily down the Dniester. It would also improve the lives of the Transdniestrians as well, because their livelihoods would improve and they'd be living under fellow Slavs.

I like it how in the fighting scenes, the East bank has a factory and the West bank has a church. The Soviet Union industrialized the territory with the higher percent of ethnic Russians. The same is true in Ukraine, the Donetsk and Lugansk regions were(still are?) more industrialized than the rest of the country.

Good one! Next video should be about the Balkans, mainly Kosova-Serbia

Transnistria on Russian translated like Преднестровье(Prednestrovie)

Good job!

Достойное описание. Есть упущенные моменты, но в целом верно

Hi everyone, I am a Moldovan, I live in Transnistria, I liked the way you described our story, quite plausibly. I love my country and neighbors, I don't want any fighting. Peace!🤗♥️

Transnistria : I Love you Russia Russia : Not now

Thanks for these story time about my land

I remember learning about Transnistria like two years ago and was so mind blown that it was able to exist where it does.

You should talk about georgia's problem of separatists region of apkadzia and samachablo (south ossetia)

Romanian here. Great summary! The sooner Moldova gives up trying to hold Transnistria, the better. It was never romanian/moldovan territory. It was created by russians to mess things up. The logical thing to do is give Transnistria's independence (with russian army leaving the area), and Moldova to join EU or (if they want) unite with Romania. A decision has to be taken by Moldova. No decision means being stuck in this state between Russia and EU. No man's land. No investments. No life. There is no such thing as "neutral" country for Moldova. Moldova is not Switzerland. You are either a buffer zone (like Moldova is now) - and nobody invests in a buffer - or "join" one side. Moldova was a buffer for 30 years. Look how it ended up, the poorest country in Europe :( There is no other option.

Good conclussion brother

Solution to the Transnistria Problem 1. Moldova gets United to the Moldovan Republic 2. Russian and Romanian are the official language 3. Moldova becomes friends with EU and Russia but doesn’t join NATO 4. Transnistrian will get human rights 5 . Moldovan and Transnistrian should not fight against eachother

Thanks for letting the English speaking audience know You Tube about such an urgent problem in Transnistria! I myself am from Transnistria and I am pleased to know that someone is talking about our small country!

Nailed it

You captured the history perfect

Great job on this video! 👏

So the modern Republic of Moldova is just the eastern portion of what was the Principality of Moldovia. The reason that Moldova was never part of the modern state of Romania (except for a brief period) was because at the time when Moldovia and Wallachian united to form the modern state, the eastern half of Moldovia had already been taken by the Russians, had that not happened, modern moldova would most likely be part of modern Romania...Is this about right?

7:10... incorrect, still, even to this day, the northern part (north bucovina) is actually romanian majority. not at all 'exclusivly ukranian speaking' and while now southern basarabia is majority russian and ukrainian, it was also romanian at the time of the soviet anexation and partition

Nice video

at 1:46 it shows the map the russians left the north of ukraine and then went more into eastern ukraine and took over all of don bass even the north don bass in the sim game only the south of don bass is a seperate area like crimea or transnistria

5:43, i as a moldovan would not say annexed, but framed into Kingdom of Romania. Before Bassarabia to be part of Greater Romania, it was formed the "Democratic Moldavian Republic" (the moldavians could unite in 1918 but they didn't like the fact that Romania has gone for Transylvania but not for Bassarabia, but because of bolshevik threat, the moldavian deputies requested help from Romania thus turning to unite). Although, great video.

Thanks for giving us any attention, but not every attention is good. Some of the assumptions you just made have no foundation whatsoever. For example, Moldova would never get involved in a military conflict. Even if attacked, most probably, we would give up shortly. We do not have an army that could step up or anything that can be used. And the thing that you just assumed that we would be interested in taking Transnistria by force is just absurdity at its peak. Please get a bit more informed, in the future, before making such statements.

Oh. Thanks.

5:25 I love the subtle Austria-Hungary pointing the gun the wrong way

5:41 lol

OMG the explanation at 11:25 killed me, I almost wet myself laughing with the little trans guy being stiched on the back of Moldova telling Moldova "Yes, listen to him." OMG! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

very nice

5:41 for refrence,these are the lyrics from a romanian meme song called "dragostea din tei"(and yes i am from romania)

Привет из ПМР)))

Well, in order for everyone to understand, Bessarabia (without Transnistria), Bukovina, Dobrogea to the Red Fortress (Cetatea Roșie) and the Golden Quadrilateral must return to the mother country (ie Romania), but Russia

you forgot to mention that in 1992 Ukraine supported the secession of Transnistria from the MSSR

yay a new video :)

Hey, I don’t live there, but I am from there and still have many relatives and family friends there. I got informed that due to the “high risk of terroristic attacks” the 9th may parade was cancelled, and that due to the same reason, school in its cities is going to be online. Pridniestrovie really is preparing in case of hostilities, and just like in Russia, it has the same propaganda. And the problem is that because of this propaganda, my relatives aren’t planning to leave at all, since they think they’re just going to be annexed and live happily as Russians. But even if Russia actually would be planning to annex it peacefully, it’d still take along with them nationalists, bandits and terrorists. I’m really worried and frightened if the idea of not returning home, of not sleeping in my childhood bed in my small but comfortable room, but I’m worried for my relatives as much too. Plus, in the country I’m living there’s growing hate towards Russian people, even me who’s not Russian, just fluent in Russian. At least, we’ve planned that in case something breaks out in Pridniestrovie, one of us is going to the Romanian border and take the kids, who are actually willing to leave. I’m sorry if I added unnecessary information, but I just wanted to inform you, as someone who has ties there and is getting news from there daily. Peace for everyone

do next video about "Abhazia" and "south Osettia" separatists

Amazing, the thumbnail predicted front lines 5 months later

Merge Moldova with Romania and Transnistria with Ukraine?

Regarding the 7:12, all we know is that Southern Basarabia was mainly habituated by the Vlachs till the Ottoman conquest of that region, after that there settle many Bulgarians that live along side with the Vlachs. Till1940 that region was mainly habitated by Bulgarians and Romanians and there was not a big community of Ukrainians, they settle that region in big numbers after 1940 after USSR deported Romanians from those regions (Bucovina and Southern Basarabia). If you wonder why in the chase of Souther Basarabia, well it was because Russia wanted to hold the mouths of Danube under it's control as it was an import trade route. During Romania Mare Romanins where almost half of the population there, now they are barely a few. Gagauz and Tatars where also bring along Ukrainians by Stalin to destabilize the region, this is why they give Transnistria also to Moldavia as Romanians-Moldovans to not make a solid block of power. If you wonder why Bulgaria was not affected by this deportation thinking is Romania propaganda, Bulgaria was not regarded as an enemy and was saw also as Slav brother, Russia had the dream to build a big Slav state under them but Romania and Hungary where cutting of the South Slavs from the rest, after Soviet occupation we had history changed to make us believe we are Slavs and where tricked to switch to Latin.

I just want to point out that the 14th was not the only time eastern europe was a melting pot, it almost always has been due to its fluidity. Check Moldova's history crazy how many empires, tribes, cultures have been there

Remember there are, those named South Ossetia and Abhasia in Georgia, also freezed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Same time taliban in Afghanistan can try one's ago start war in Central Asia.

If ypu go to 5:43 thers a refrenced to the song maia hi maia hu which is moldovian