Part 5/11:
Strategically, Russia has vested interests in Transnistria. The region hosts an estimated 1,500 Russian troops, officially peacekeepers since the 1990s ceasefire. These forces provide Russia a crucial foothold in Eastern Europe, near NATO and EU borders, while supporting Russia's broader policy of safeguarding ethnic Russians and Russian speakers outside its borders. Supporting Transnistria also acts as a geopolitical tool to curb Moldova’s ambitions of EU and NATO integration—an ongoing challenge for Western institutions trying to stabilize the region.