In this article, I examine the issues of statehood, sovereignty, and recognition through the case of Transnistria, an unrecognized, de facto state located in eastern Moldova. This article explores the relationship between sovereignty and (the lack of) recognition by examining the forms recognition takes vis‐à‐vis the Transnistrian state and its constituents. I argue that a monopoly on coercion is not sufficient for sovereignty. Rather, a distinct people and form of peoplehood must exist and be recognized as such. This article presents an ethnographic approach to recognition that examines the interplay between sovereignty, performance, and peoplehood in Transnistria. The relationship between recognition and state sovereignty is, I argue, fourfold, and includes (1) international recognition by other states, (2) the recognition of a state's sovereign authority by its own population, (3) the recognition of a degree of collective “peoplehood” by the population themselves, and (4) the consequent recognition of this peoplehood by the state.