One of the major problems with the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (as "Transnistria" is actually called) is that most visitors only come briefly, see the city center of Tiraspol, perhaps the castle in Bender, and then form their opinion.

I've now spent over 200 days here in total, and I wouldn't claim to know or understand everything.

But I know enough to know that the usual stereotypes aren't true.

For example, the idea that time stood still there after the end of the Soviet Union. Yes, Soviet-era buildings dominate the cityscape (though there are also more modern ones), they left the Lenin statues standing (though not all of them), and the flag still bears the hammer and sickle.

But when I need a taxi here, I call it via an app, see its current location on the map (so I'm right there when it arrives), the corresponding app in the taxi acts as the meter (the tourist scam common elsewhere, "the meter is broken," doesn't work here because you couldn't have called this taxi in the first place), and the fare could be automatically debited from my account (I prefer cash because I want to give a decent tip...). Was it like this back in Soviet times? And this is just a random example.

A few more comments on other posts here:

> Yep. The football club is a core part of the mafia’s business.

I don't know the financial statements and I'm not interested in football, so I've never been to the stadium. But I often see announcements on local Telegram channels that games are free. (Maybe that's not always the case, but it's often true.) Therefore, I suspect that this isn't really a "core part of the business," but rather a hobby of the company owner.

> Transnistria sounds like a hellhole in every aspect.

If you listen to some people: yes. I emigrated there as a German citizen with a good income because I like it better here (but that's certainly also a matter of personal taste).

> and you have pro-Russian Empire propaganda coming out of speakers in the very center of the capital 24/7

certainly not

> Don't get me wrong, but which nationalities live there right now?

The classification is somewhat arbitrary because the ethnic groups have been intermarrying for generations, but we have Moldovans, Russians, and Ukrainians as major ethnic groups (who then have their own official language and schools), and Armenians, Belarusians, Bulgarians, Gagauz, and Germans as significant minorities. Supposedly, there are just over 70 different ethnic groups here, but it seems that every immigrant nationality is automatically counted as an ethnic group.

Pridnestrovia sees itself as explicitly multinational and also promotes the traditions of its minorities.

And to return to the original question ("What is the actual status of Transnistria?"): Great country if you have money. But you wouldn't want to work there for the wages.