The central square of Tiraspol is flanked by the parliament building of the unrecognized Transnistrian republic, distinguished by the flag of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic — hammer, sickle, and all — that has not been updated since independence. The large Soviet tank parked on a concrete plinth outside the parliament is a memorial to the 1992 war of independence, when Transnistria fought Moldovan forces for control of the territory.
The square itself is clean, Soviet in proportions, and lined with government buildings. The statue of Suvorov depicts the Russian general who established the Tiraspol Fortress here in 1792 as part of Catherine the Great's southern expansion. Across Karl Marx Street, a Lenin statue stands before the House of Soviets in the familiar pose of pointing toward the socialist future. Both remain entirely unironic.