The Transnistrian Patriot


  • Photographer
    Justin Barton
  • Prize
    2nd Place / Editorial/Political
  • Company/Studios
    Jusitn Barton Photography
  • Date of Photograph
    March 2015
  • Technical Info
    D810 Nikon 50mm Sigma Art Lens

The Transnistrian Patriot Portraits of Nationalists of a country that doesn’t exist, but whose symbols have exerted a potent enough influence to maintain a frozen conflict for 25 years. During the split of the USSR this sliver of land between Ukraine and Moldova was the only part not to willingly secede. Invisible on any maps outside of its borders, it remains unrecognized by any UN state. But in 1992 a bloody war was fought between Moldovans and Transnistrian separatists and now it remains caught between its Soviet history, current de facto independence and a dream of annexation by Russia.

Story

The unrecognized state The Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (often called Transnistria) or PMR is located between the eastern side of Moldova and Ukraine.

Transnistria provides a window of understanding into the troubles that have spilt over into violence in the last few years in the current conflict in Ukraine and also how the Russian influence in Eastern Europe maintains its hold. Naturally, it they have their roots in the fall of the Soviet Union. Now, its uncomfortable relationship with its neighbours suggests the sad possibility of a new flashpoint.

With the West and EU on one side starting to provide economic help and development on both borders in Ukraine and Moldova with and with Russia on the other keen to avoid their meddling in what it considers its sphere of influence, a political squeeze is inevitable, especially since Transnistria is so dependent on Russian subsidy.

The emblems and myths so important in the understanding of what makes a nation is what it is and how it is recognized, also play a strong part in such potential conflicts. A flag is deemed just as important a claim to territory as any political proclamation and is carried onto the frontline of most wars often at great cost of danger to personnel merely as shorthand for unity of intent.

The Transnistrian Flag is the only ‘national’ flag in the world that still uses the Soviet crossed hammer and sickle motif. It’s almost an exact copy of the flag of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic used during the time of the USSR and it’s a reminder of its lack of willingness to secede from that union.

In seeming contradiction, whilst Transnistria not only has a stated wish to remain independent, many in government happily affirm a wish to unite with Russia, especially after its incorporation of Crimea. This further complicates the Transnistrian relationship with its own statehood.

It’s quite common to see Stalin, Putin and (current president) Yevgeny Shevchuk featuring on the same wall and often Russian and Transnistrian flags are used interchangeably as patriotic elements. Further historical influences include the flag of the Russian Empire (a symbol of Russian Monarchism often found in Cossack groups) the Russian two-headed eagle and the ribbon of St George (that has become a symbol of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine). Frequently the combinations appear contradictory, but are symptomatic of a self-definition that is most emphatic about what is not i.e. Moldovan - than what it is.

The subjects of the photographs in this series are self-professed patriots who through what they are/do figure in the Transnistrian claim to nationhood and who provide the apparatus and trappings of a nation to it.

1. Nina Shtanski - Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Transnistrian Moldovan Republic.
2. Nikolay Smolenskiy – Police Lieutenant Colonel Expert in Transnistrian Criminal Law.
3. Seller of Patriotic goods in Tiraspol.
4. Igor Nebeygolova – KGB Colonel and Commander of the Cossack Regiment in Tiraspol.
5. Irina Smirnova – Director of The Museum of The Transnistrian National Tragedy.

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