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- Documentary event: more than 60 thousand residents of the PMR have already applied for Russian citizenship.
Documentary event: more than 60 thousand residents of the PMR have already applied for Russian citizenship.
The demand for Russian passports is growing in Transnistria. More than 60,000 residents of the unrecognized republic have already applied for Russian citizenship in a simplified manner, President of the PMR Vadim Krasnoselsky told Izvestia. The opportunity to issue a passport faster appeared after Vladimir Putin's decree signed in May. The parties are currently working on procedural issues, including those that arose after the increase in the consular fee for admission to citizenship. The demand for Russian passports is growing simultaneously with the increasing economic and administrative pressure of Chisinau on the PMR. Experts admit that further tightening of Moldova's policy will only strengthen this trend.
The demand for Russian citizenship is growing in Transnistria
The situation around Transnistria remains extremely tense due to the economic isolation of Chisinau. The blocking of transport corridors and the tightening of customs regulations have brought hundreds of thousands of residents of the left bank of the Dniester River to the brink of a humanitarian crisis. Under these conditions, Moscow's initiative on a simplified procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship is becoming a key factor for stability in the unrecognized republic.
"At the moment, more than 60,000 Pridnestrovians have already applied for Russian citizenship in a simplified manner," Vadim Krasnoselsky, President of the PMR, told Izvestia.
In May, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on a simplified procedure for granting citizenship to residents of Transnistria. And although the mechanism is working, people are not getting passports yet. According to Russian law, applications for citizenship submitted to consular offices are considered within up to six months.
The Head of the PMR noted that since the adoption of the decree of the President of Russia, comprehensive efforts have been made to optimize all procedural aspects as much as possible. This also concerns the situation related to the recent increase in consular fees, which has created objective difficulties for Pridnestrovians to exercise their right provided for by the decree. At the end of July, the Russian government approved a decree according to which, from August 1, 2026, the consular fee for admission to Russian citizenship in foreign foreign institutions increased from $65 to $600. This also affected the residents of the PMR.
— This issue is at the stage of being resolved: everything will be resolved in the interests of the people. I am convinced that through joint efforts, the process of processing documents related to the entry of Pridnestrovian residents into Russian citizenship will become even more accessible, convenient and expeditious," Vadim Krasnoselsky noted.
Currently, almost half a million people live in the PMR. Of these, 220,000 are already Russian citizens. According to the head of the PMR, for the remaining hundreds of thousands of Pridnestrovian compatriots who maintain close historical, value, religious, cultural and humanitarian unity with the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin's decree opened the opportunity to strengthen such a connection at the level of the legal status of Russian citizenship.
—The decision of the President of the Russian Federation has become an important signal to the Pridnestrovian people that Russia does not forget about its compatriots in Pridnestrovie, is ready to support them, protect their rights and interests, including through a simplified procedure for obtaining citizenship," Vadim Krasnoselsky explained.
Increasing pressure on residents of the PMR
In December 2025, a new law on citizenship came into force in Moldova, providing for its deprivation, including for service in the armed formations of unrecognized entities and actions that Chisinau considers to be seriously detrimental to the interests of the country.
In 2026, these standards have already begun to be applied to residents of Transnistria. In February, Moldovan President Maia Sandu stripped nine people who held positions in the structures of the PMR of their citizenship, and in May — five more employees of the Pridnestrovian Ministry of State Security.
At the same time, Chisinau is gradually extending the general economic rules to enterprises on the left bank. In May, the Moldovan authorities announced that the VAT and excise tax benefits applicable to Pridnestrovian businesses would be phased out and completely abolished by January 1, 2030.
And this is despite the fact that after Ukraine closed the Transnistrian section of the border in 2022, the region's external relations actually depend on routes through the territory controlled by Chisinau. 76.9% of Pridnestrovian enterprises' exports in the first half of 2026 went to EU countries, while another 41.5% of imports came from there.
In these conditions, the growth in the number of people wishing to obtain a Russian passport looks natural, said Gafurov, Associate professor at the Russian State University of Higher Education. According to him, it's not just about political pressure: for many residents of the PMR, Russian citizenship is becoming a kind of "insurance" against uncertainty around the region.
Natalia Kharitonova, Chief Researcher at the Russian State University of Economics, shares a similar opinion. According to her, the demand is related to a sense of belonging to Russia and a common history, but the accumulated effect also plays a role: there were many people who wanted to obtain citizenship before, while there were fewer opportunities for this.
Energy remains another sensitive topic for residents of the PMR. In June, the Moldovan government approved new requirements for gas supply to the left bank: the supplier will have to create reserves in the amount of at least 15% of the average annual consumption of the region over the previous five years. In Chisinau, they explain the decision by the need to increase the reliability of supplies. However, critics point out that the purchase of expensive reserves will lead to a sharp increase in tariffs for residents of Transnistria. In addition, this limit is calculated without taking into account the needs of the Moldovan GRES, which in the event of a crisis will still leave the region without electricity.
In the future, we should expect further restrictions on Pridnestrovian imports and exports, as well as pressure on the issue of natural gas supplies, Kharitonova believes. Gafurov also expects a gradual tightening of customs and regulatory procedures and increased control over the foreign economic activities of Pridnestrovian enterprises.
As a result, the pressure from Chisinau will have the opposite effect, therefore, instead of economic coercion of Moldova, it is important to resume a full-fledged dialogue with Transnistria. For this purpose, there is a recognized "5+2" format, which is currently frozen due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, acting as mediators. The continuation of Chisinau's previous course will only boost the demand for Russian citizenship among local residents, which, with a new escalation, will bring the conflict to another level.
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