There are five villages in the self-proclaimed Transnistrian Moldavian Republic that are still under Moldovan administration. For them, the only connection to the rest of the country is a ferry that crosses the Dniester River. Transnistria is on its eastern bank, and the rest of Moldova is on its western bank. The ferry, which runs several times a day, is vital for the residents of the five villages - a people who often feel forgotten in a kind of no-man's land.
Time has stopped there
Gheorghe Colun, 69, lives in the village of Kocheri - one of the five villages that remain under Moldovan control. In his old Soviet-made Lada, he travels to Vasilevka - another Moldovan village, 20 kilometers from Kocheri, near the Ukrainian border. Kolun says that journalists have hardly set foot there in recent years. The road is riddled with potholes and covered in dust. The streets are deserted, with only a few geese walking along them. Everywhere - empty and crumbling houses. Time seems to have stopped.
Agafia has lived in Vasilevka all her life. Despite the long drought this summer, the tomatoes in her garden are ripe and she is preparing for winter. She says she has to live mostly on what she produces herself. "You see, the village is small. We are the only ones on the Moldovan side. Everything around is Transnistria. We thought they would help us, at least because we remained Moldovans, as we always were. But no one helps us, no one gives us anything," Agafia says.
There is no school in Vasilevka. There is no town hall, not even a grocery store. Only a small doctor's office. Before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, locals often shopped in Ukraine. Since then, that has been impossible. Ukraine built trenches along the border to prevent a possible Russian attack through Transnistria. So to buy even a simple loaf of bread, residents have to travel to Transnistria. For larger purchases, they have to travel 40 kilometers, including by ferry to the territory controlled by Moldova on the other side of the river.
Agafia and the other residents of Vasilevka live off their own produce and animals. The woman says she maintains good relations with both the people in Transnistria and those in Moldova. "However, we must make sure that Moldova is united. I don't want to be Romanian. I am Moldovan and I always have been", says Agafia.
Moldova's future is in the EU
Life in Kocheri - a village slightly larger than Vasilevka and closer to Chisinau - is a little better. Gheorghe Colun says the situation in the region has always been tense and people are hoping for more support from the Moldovan authorities. He is convinced that the only way to resolve the conflict is for Moldova to join the European Union - something he hopes will happen one day. “I don't see any other way out - and many others think the same - because there, in Europe, life is normal, there is real democracy, citizens are free and protected. This is Moldova's future. "Our future is not to look back," the man says.
"They want these villages to disappear"
According to Manole, head of the Chisinau-based organization "Promo Lex", which monitors human rights and democracy in the Transnistrian capital of Tiraspol, the local administration does not care about the people in these villages. "The regime in Tiraspol does not want these villages to survive, because the people there are mainly Moldovans. They want to assimilate them, force them to move to Tiraspol or Dubasari. Or simply leave the region. That is the goal - for these villages to disappear".
Although decisions about their future are made far away, the residents of these Moldovan-administered villages in Transnistria have no choice - they continue their lives. While war rages across the border, in Ukraine, they hope that a better future awaits them and that history will one day be on their side.
Author: Simion Tsyokhin