"I want to say a special thanks and [extend our] appreciations to the Russian government for the assistance provided to the republic and its citizens, who live under such uneasy conditions," the leader said at a meeting, devoted to the 26th anniversary of Transnistria's self-declared independence.
Transnistria, a region with a predominately ethnically Russian and Ukrainian population, broke away from the Soviet Republic of Moldova in 1990, fearing the country might seek to reunify with neighboring Romania.
The move triggered a war that ended in a ceasefire in July 1992, but the conflict has remained unresolved. Russian peacekeepers have been preserving peace in the region, along with their Moldovan and Transnistrian counterparts.
Transnistria, which is not recognized by the United Nations as a political and diplomatic entity, is seen by Moldova as an autonomous territorial unit with a special legal status.
