- Political Holidays
Transnistrian Passport
By: The PH Team
Unrecognized Country
Transnistria is an unrecognized country, internationally recognized as part of neighboring Moldova. Transnistria, once part of the Soviet Union, is known for its continued likeness to the former global superpower.
The country is home to a large collection of authentic Soviet statues, monuments and other imagery leftover from a time locals are still nostalgic for.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Transnistria declared independence from the newly independent Republic of Moldova.
A short war with Russian-backing, cemented Transnistria's status as a de facto State, however unrecognized by the rest of the world.
Soviet Passport
After the independence of Transnistria, the country's leadership decided to keep previous Soviet state symbols rather than adopting new ones.
As the new country was unrecognized, citizens of Transnistria were encouraged to continue using their passports from the Soviet Union - a country which no longer existed. That is, until the Transnistrian passport was adopted.
Unrecognized Passport
The Transnistrian passport is the passport of a country that doesn't technically exist. It is granted to citizens of the unrecognized country who wish to travel abroad.
The passport is not accepted in any other country, and therefore the citizens of Transnistria only use the local passport upon reentrance into the country. The only other places that a Transnistrian passport is considered valid is in the unrecognized countries of Abkhazia, the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and South Ossetia.
Since the population of Transnistria is primarily made up of ethnic Moldovans (Romanians), Ukrainians and Russians, most of Transnistria's population have either two or even three passports, including their Transnistrian one.
In case you didn't already notice, the final interesting fact about the Transnistrian passport is that it looks strikingly similar to the old Soviet one!
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