Last week, the United Nations condemned Russia for "disproportionate" violence in the separatist region.

Georgia and Russia exchanged angry accusations over weapons intercepted in the separatist region of South Ossetia.

U.S. citizens can enter Moldova through the separatist region of Transnistria.

A powerful explosion killed at least seven people on a minibus in the separatist region of Moldova on Thursday, the region's interior minister said.

Furthermore, the conflict with Georgia's other, bigger, separatist region Abkhazia, escalated into a war in 1992.

Russian troops and border guards continue to occupy both separatist regions.

Officials called for emergency meetings after overnight fighting flared in the separatist region of South Ossetia, leaving as many as three people dead.

That fall, a series of apartment bombings killed 243 people, fanning popular support for the second war in Chechnya, Russia's separatist region.

At least four people were killed as fresh fighting broke out between Georgia and the separatist region of South Ossetia.

During the war Russian forces largely recaptured the separatist region of Chechnya.