The authorities in Tiraspol on Sunday, September 2, celebrated the 17th anniversary of the foundation of the unrecognised state, known as the Moldovan Transnistrian Republic (rmn). The leader of the Transnistrian regime, Igor Smirov said in a declaration that over these 17 years a political system and an open civil society has been established, which allowed repelling the attacks from the neighbouring Moldova and continue building a free and democratic state. The declaration also says that the 17th year of independence hasn’t been easy from political and economical point of view. According to it, the blockade and provocations from Moldovan authorities have continued, and pressure from the West has intensified. “The Transnistrians have always known how to distinguish enemies from friends, that is why they chose the union with Russia”, the statement by Igor Smirnov reads. Thus far, the authorities in Chisinau have left the statements made by the Tiraspol leaders without any attention. The proclamation of Transnistria’s independence triggered another conflict in the ex-Soviet space, which according to the majority of independent experts and authorities of some states had been staged by the Kremlin. The Transnistrian crisis of 1992 culminated with an armed conflict on the Nistru River, which ended a couple of months later. Afterwards, there were several attempts to settle the Transnistrian issue, including the latest five-plus-two format of settlement talks, but neither of them succeeded to bring the conflict to an end, the Tiraspol authorities still calling ‘rmn’ a ‘de facto’ independent country and not excluding a possible union with the Russian Federation.