Transnistria

So one of my worries about traveling to Kiev alone was not the being alone itself; it was because I was worried I would accidently travel through Transnistria on my way there.

Transnistria is a breakaway territory located on a small strip of land along the east boarder of Moldova and Ukraine that considers itself a sovereign country. You haven’t heard of it, you say? That’s not surprising seeing as it is probably one of the only “countries” that considers it independent.
Since its declaration of independence in 1990, and especially after the War of Transnistria in 1992, it is governed as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR, also known as Pridnestrovie), a state with limited recognition. It has it’s own money and passport, but it’s not recognized by other countries. It probably wouldn’t still be around if it didn’t have support from Russia. 

As Peace Corps volunteers, we are not allowed to travel there because there’s a lot of corruption. Many Americans who travel through there have reported difficulties at the boarder crossing, such as harassment, paying ludicrous ‘fines’, or filling out ominous form, which are written in Cyrillic script. You might be directed by law to show them all your money – a way for them to gauge the size of the fine they can impose. Sometimes, they pull you off the bus to complete the process, presumably leaving you stranded.

If you are interested, here is a video about Transnistria.