TRANSDJNESTR / OSLO : A narrow strip furthest east in the small country Moldova constitutes Transdjnestr. When the former Soviet republic established itself as a separate state after the fall of communism, would strong forces in Transdjnestr not be with.
In 1992 a bloody war fought, a war that first stopped when Russia backed rebels militarily . Since this has been a frozen conflict, and 1,500 Russian soldiers are still here, on the border with Ukraine.
No, nor Russia, recognizes Transdjnestr as an independent nation. In reality, the country is controlled from Moscow, and both money and power is channeled through the company Sheriff.
The logo is a sheriff star and is not the least visible because all the supermarkets in the country owned by the company. Sheriff also owns petrol stations, a mobile telecommunications company, two football stadiums in the “capital” Tiraspol and the football club FC Sheriff Tiraspol, who plays in Moldova’s top league. The club beat last year out Tromso in the UEFA Cup.
Started by former KGB officers
Anton Smolenskij (24) has worked in the Sheriff in a little over one year, as a security guard at a supermarket. He studied law for five years at the University of Tiraspol, and made one-year military service. – It is not the job I dreamed about and I hope there will be other opportunities. But right now I’m happy with what I have, says Smolenskij. There is a great shortage of jobs in Transdjnestr.
Asked if he could tell us a little about the company and about those who started it, he replied simply:
– I’m not interested in such matters, and have never had any desire to be informed about the background of the company or who owns it.
interpreter our help: – It was started in 1993 by two officers from the KGB. It began with a single store. The name “Sheriff” is because it was the one the founder’s nickname in KGB, he said.
– We do not know the exact relationship between the Sheriff and the president, he says, makes it clear that he will not talk about corruption.
– we think something around it, but we are ordinary people.
Sheriff grew rapidly, and also bought up other companies.
– More than 50,000 people in Transdjnestr is currently dependent on income from those working in the Sheriff. The company also makes business in other countries, I’ve heard, he adds.
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Order and discipline
– Order and discipline is a hallmark of Sheriff brand. How species it in your job?
– We have instructions, and every year we go through a test whether we can instructions. Those who fail, may be fired, says Anton Smolenskij. He says he also is all he needs Sheriff supermarket, which is “country” only supermarket.
– But there are other shops, ie.
Sheriff is the only company in Transdnistria which operates virtually as a private company without direct government remittances, according to the Polish research company Center for øststudier (OSW) which specializes in making analyzes of economy and companies in Eastern Europe and Russia.
Transdjnestr have more retirees than working, which further contributes to the image of a “state” which is dependent on remittances from other countries.
The expenditure increases much faster than revenues in the republic called budget . Russia covers deficit, including through large discounts on gas and other energy supplies, and direct financial support.
Huge government debt
It also means that Transdjnestr has gained an enormous national debt. The debt to the Russian gas company Gazprom alone is estimated at $ 3.7 billion (28 billion. Kr).
There are few reliable figures on the economy of Transdjnestr. OSW estimates that total production (gross domestic product) was around 1 billion dollars (7.6 billion. Kr) in 2012.
This means in this case that the national debt is over 300 percent of energy debt alone . For Russia, the large debt be practical because it can be used as political leverage against Moldova.
Neither the International Monetary Fund or World Bank figures for the breakaway republic’s economy.
Special privileges
Sheriff had until 2012 special privileges by the company could freely use currency proceeds from the sale of goods to other countries.
But the company’s strong man Viktor gusan smoke unclear with the new president of the breakaway state , Jevgenyj Shevtsjuk. In 2012 he issued a decree depriving Sheriff all privileges and instructed the company to pay duty of 25 percent on all exports of foreign currency.
According OSW are mostly of foreign exchange earnings Sheriff used to pay for purchases in abroad or channeled to tax havens.
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