As many as 22,400 national driver’s licenses were issued to inhabitants of the Transnistrian region during the last four years, IPN reports, quoting a press release of the Reintegration Policies Bureau that provides data of the Public Services Agency.

In 2017-2021, the number of applicants for national driver’s licenses issued based on the replacement mechanism (simplified in May 2020, without taking additional exams) was higher. These licenses are issued to persons living in the Transnistrian region who possess regional confirming documents and identity papers approved by the law on IDs of the national passport system.

Over 6,800 licenses or about 30.55% of the total for four years were confirmed in the national system between January 2 and December 18, 2021.

In the second half of 2021, the number of applicants for neutral-design license plates for noncommercial motor vehicles of the Transnistrian region at vehicle registration units on the left side of the Nistru also increased. During September 1, 2018 - December 31, 2021, 8,900 motor vehicles were registered with neutral-design license plates, 4,700 of which in 2021 alone.

According to the Reintegration Policies Bureau, the upward tendency was accompanied by the higher demand for national license plates on the part of Transnistrian drivers and was due to the fact that access to international road traffic as from September 1, 2021 was permitted only to motor vehicles with neutral-design license plates and plates of the Republic of Moldova.

As from December 29, 2021, on political pretexts Tiraspol has reduced the capacities of the vehicle registration units on the left side of the Nistru and the citizens living in the region found themselves in a difficult situation, says the press release.