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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
Transnistria, or the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR) as it is officially called, is a breakaway state situated between Moldova and Ukraine that has largely escaped the world's attention ever since its self-proclaimed independence as a Soviet republic in 1990 and subsequent violent secession from Moldova in 1992. Despite having ended armed conflict in 1992, the situation in Transnistria remains just as complicated as it was in the 1990s, with the ephemeral nation wishing to join the Russian Federation while continuing to remain heavily reliant on Moldova for exporting the limited produce its economy outputs.