Russia’s Transdniestria Policy: Means, Ends and Great Power Trajectories

Abstract

This chapter explores the nature of Russian policy towards a separatist Transdniestria — or Pridnestrovskaya Moldavskaya Respublika’ (PMR) — that emerged on the territory of Moldova in 1990. The evolution of Russian policy towards PMR signposts changes in Russia foreign policy in the post-Soviet period. The ad hoc, reactive and directionless foreign policy of the Yeltsin era, which lacked the consensus, approach and resources to implement, gave way to a more pragmatic active diplomacy of Putin’s first term. Russian state consolidation and the high price of energy allow President Putin now to prioritize political security concerns within Russian foreign policy. As a result, Russia has the means and political will actively to implement geopolitical concepts that had informed, but not defined Russian foreign policy in the 1990s through lack of resources to implement them effectively — including the balance of power, spheres of influence, and zero-sum politics.KeywordsOrganize CrimeHuman TraffickingForeign MinisterTerritorial IntegrityOrange RevolutionThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.