Chisinau at Night...

Republic of Moldova (Republica Moldova) is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south.

In the Middle Ages, most of the present territory of Moldova was part of the Principality of Moldavia. In 1812, it was annexed by the Russian Empire, and became known as Bessarabia. Between 1856 and 1878, one of the eight counties was returned to Moldavia, which in 1859 united with Wallachia to form modern Romania. Upon the dissolution of the Russian Empire in 1917, an autonomous, then independent Moldavian Democratic Republic was formed, which joined Romania in 1918. In 1940, Bessarabia was occupied by the Soviet Union and was split between the Ukrainian SSR and the newly-created Moldavian SSR. After changing hands in 1941 and 1944 during World War II, the country became again part of the Soviet Union until its declaration of independence on August 27, 1991. Moldova was admitted to the UN in March 1992. In September 1990, a breakaway government was formed in Transnistria, a strip of Moldavian SSR on the left bank of the river Dniester, and after a brief war in 1992 became de facto independent, although no UN member has recognized its independence.