 The Moldovan Declaration of Independence claims continuity of Moldovan sovereignty over the territory of Transnistria as it is "a component part of the historical and ethnic territory of our people".However, the Moldovan Declaration of Independence is itself used as an argument against Moldovan sovereignty over Transnistria as it denounces the Ribbentrop-Molotov agreement of 23 August 1939 between the government of the Soviet Union and the government of Nazi Germany "null and void" being the only formal union between the two territories.After failing to establish control over the breakaway region in the War of Transnistria, Moldova offered a broad cultural and political autonomy to the region.