Our trip to the blocked Moldovan villages

Journo Birds: October 18, 2023

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A choir from Molovata Noua, a small Moldovan village. Even if it's at the edge, it's full of life.

The Moldovan villagers who fought for (and won!) their freedom in the 90s are still locked by the Russian-influenced territory of Transnistria.

We took the ferry to visit Molovata Noua and Cocieri. That's the only way to get to these villages if you don't want to or cannot enter the breakaway region of Transnistria.

The Dniester River usually marks the so-called border between Moldova and Transnistria, but some Moldovan villages on the East side of the river managed to keep their independence.

Moldova is a landlocked country, but here, in the port of Molovata, in the Eastern part of the country, it feels like the seaside. The river stretches over 1.5 kilometers wide and brings a fresh breeze with it.

The ferry is free and runs six times a day. The Moldovan guards wave us off with a smile and the world seems to slow down as we gracefully slide over. Suddenly, a ferry stops with a clunk and brings us quickly back to reality. Here, the Transnistrian police and the Russian soldiers walk by, holding onto their rifles. We drive by, avoiding eye contact.

A unique terrain of the Eastern part of Moldova.

For us, it's eerie to be greeted by gunmen. For locals - it's normality. That's how they reach their homes. We came from one Moldovan village to another, but the Transnistrian authorities have created a checkpoint here. Transnistria is nearby, in the next village. Over there, rubles are used and Russian is the main language. Romanian is written in Cyrillic. People are not free to speak about everything.

But today is the time for celebration. It's the village day - or hram, as the locals call it. It's as Moldovan as it gets; having a glass of wine and dancing in circles to folk tunes. People eat meat and potatoes to celebrate their home village.

The local choirs sing about life and love. The kids jump on an inflatable bounce house. A trackless train with toddlers passes by. School students dressed in folk costumes notice our cameras and ask for a group photo. The girls organize a neat row, while the boys pose alongside. They are about to perform the ciuleandra, one of the most famous folk dances in the region. It's a nostalgic, yet hopeful dance. Typically, the men cheer and encourage each other to form a circle. “Like that, like that!” they scream out. Today, instead of men, who are sitting in the back, sipping wine and puffing on cigarettes, children perform it with humble smiles.

Ciuleandra, one of the most famous folk dances, is usually performed by men.

“It's like we live on an island!”

We notice an elderly couple in their yard. Their blue mailbox at the gate has bullet holes. Only three decades ago, scenes of bloody conflict unfolded here. The couple remember how their house was attacked at night.

“Everything got hit,” Ilie and his wife tell us. “The windows were left without glass. It was raining. What were we to do?”

The neighbors helped each other and rebuilt their homes.

Ilie and his wife show us the bullet holes from the Transnistria War.

Cocieri and Molovata Noua played a central role in the war where thousands died and were injured. It forced 80,000 people to flee their homes. The Republic of Moldova had just regained independence from the Soviet Union on August 27, 1991, and hadn't even begun to form its own army when the clashes started.

The Transnistrian separatists set up a military force with some 20,000 troops according to some sources. They had been armed, equipped, and trained by the 14th Army of the Russian Federation, deployed in the region.

Without any training or proper equipment, the people in Cocieri and Molovata Noua stood up for their villages. Incredibly, they managed to win and stay under the Chisinau administration. Nevertheless, a checkpoint was set up at the entrance to their villages, locking them in and making them dependent on the foreign guards and the ferry schedules.

As Ilie and his wife sum up: “It’s like we live on an island!” Ilie's wife continues: “When we have to go to the capital, Chisinau, we have to pass the Moldovan police, the Transnistrian police, and the Russian soldiers. After crossing to the Transnistrian side, we pass by the Transnistrian militia and then again the Moldovan police.”

To this day, the Transnistrian and Russian guards scare them. They must be careful with what they say if they want to move freely. We spoke to an elderly man, who fought for Molovata Noua and lost his best friend. He passionately told us how much he loved his village and how much he sacrificed for it. The Moldovan villagers won because they had a real cause - they needed to protect their homes. The enemy, supported by Russia, on the other hand, fought just for the sake of it. Some of the Transnistria war veterans are now fighting in Ukraine, for a similar cause.

Once we grabbed our cameras and voice recorders, many villagers' tones changed. They mumbled that they prefer not to speak about “politics” and found a way to leave. 

Guests must bring their passports

But today is the time for celebration and the singers of Molovata Noua invited us to break fluffy pastry - placinte - with them and sip wine. They sang cheerful songs and then laid a blanket on the grass. They told us how proud they were of their village. “It's still very much alive!” Aleksandra said. “When young people leave, they usually always come back.” Tatiana added. Their roots grow deep around here.

“This is how we, Moldovans, are!” the singers then yelled and raised their glasses. “We work, sing, speak, joke around, and drink wine!” With a warm feeling in our stomachs, from the wine and the talks, we stroll on.

By the river, a co-founder of an agropension “Vila Dorului,” Victoria Mușinschi, runs across the green grass. She is adjusting flowers, speaking to the DJ. Today, a company from Chisinau will hold their summer days here. For Victoria and her husband, there is always something to do here. Still, she covers the table with homemade wine and pastry for us and takes five minutes to chat. The hotel has only been open for three years but is growing fast.

Running a business here is tough. The guards sometimes forbid certain goods to be transported through Transnistria, Mușinschi explains. Other times, when their potential customers forget to bring their passports or miss the last ferry, the hotel has lost clients.

Despite all this, they get more requests that they can fulfill. The nature here is unique, Mușinschi explains. There are hiking trails in pine forests and viewpoints with wide bodies of water with sandy soil - not typical Moldovan scenery.

This was part of the reason why Moldovan business owner Vladimir Keptene moved back from the USA and bought a vineyard on the hillsides of Molovata Noua. He is now producing sulfite-free eco wine and says that Molovata Noua is the most enchanting village in Moldova.

A Moldovan business owner Vladimir Keptene moved back to Moldova and started making his own organic wine.

“The river surrounds the whole village,” Keptene explains. “I don’t have to water my vineyards here. They get watered by the mist every morning. It’s magical!” The Dniester is typically like a border for the Eastern and the Western world, he adds. “But this place is an exception - both riversides are still Moldova.”

In this in-between land, opinions vary. Some watch Russian propaganda channels and others follow Moldovan news. Some support the existence of the so-called Transnistrian authorities. Others lost their friends who fought against them. As long as you don't speak about politics, you can co-exist peacefully.

The Dniester River bank at sunset.