Transdniestria, home to 500,000 people, holds far more strategic significance than the size of its population might suggest. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the region sought to break from Moldova as the newly independent country strengthened ties with its ethnic and cultural kin in Romania. Transdniestria, a Soviet-era industrial hub mainly populated by Russians and ethnic Slavs, resisted this process. After waging a brief war against Moldovan security forces in 1992, the region won its autonomy with the help of the Russian military. In the decades since, Transdniestria has remained effectively independent from Moldova, a fact that has exacerbated tension between Russia and the West as the Kremlin continues to provide military and political assistance to the breakaway territory.