Civil society met with Pridnestrovie's political leaders for a mass meeting to mark the republic's 17th anniversary. The meeting took place in the same building where independence was declared on 2 September 1990. After 17 years as a 'de facto' sovereign state, the people of Transdniestria (officially: Pridnestrovie) re-affirmed their independent spirit.

At its largest extent, Moldova reached all the way to the Dniester river - but never once did it ever go beyond. Stefan the Great ruled over a ‘Greater’ Moldavia that stretched up to the Dniester. At no time in history did any independent Moldovan state ever include any land on the other side of the Dniester where Pridnestrovie lies today.

During an official visit with Transdniester's Parliament, Ukrainian MP Ekaterina Samoilyk said she "felt like at home, as if there were no borders between us". For centuries, Transdniester was a legal and ethnic part of Ukraine. It has never been part of any independent Moldovan state at any time in history.

Kosovo is set to become an example for other new countries. That, at least, is what Nagorno-Karabakh thinks and it has rejoined the Commonwealth of Unrecognized States. In Tiraspol, it just issued a joint declaration along with Transdniestria (PMR), South Ossetia and Abkhazia in a move which marked the start of closer collaboration.