Transnistria, a breakaway republic of Moldova, is sometimes referred to as the last outpost of the Soviet Union. Travellers are warned about bandits dressed as police — or the police, who rob foreigners down to their underwear. Because it is an unrecognised state — the UN considers it to be part of Moldova — there aren’t foreign embassies or consulates. Transnistria is recognised only by South Ossetia, Artsakh and Abkhazia; also unrecognised states themselves. Vice News describes the country as a hotbed of smuggling, illegal weapons sales, assassins, mafiosos and blonde bombshells eager to trade sex for tickets out. The Economist labels the country as "the black hole that ate Moldova". But being in a place that still has the hammer and sickle of the USSR on its flag and statues of Lenin, on May Day 2018, were just too tempting. Sandwiched between Moldova and the Ukraine, Transnistria is a small strip of land on the east side of the Dniester River and the city of Bender on the west s...

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