The Republic of Moldova is part of the Russian world and shares a history with Russia spanning hundreds of years. Today, Russia is Moldova’s top strategic partner, and the country that has ensured its security for the last 30 years, helping it prevent a war. Ria Novosti has picked up on the narratives from a message sent by former president, Igor Dodon, with the aim of highlighting his personal relation with the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, ahead of the early parliamentary election scheduled to take place on July 11, 2021 in the Republic of Moldova.
NEWS: Former president Igor Dodon said Russia is one of Moldova’s most reliable partners, RIA NOVOSTI news agency reports. “Today, the Russian Federation celebrates its national holiday – Russia’s National Day. We cannot underestimate Russia’s importance for our country. The Russian Federation is our most loyal and trusted strategic partner”, Dodon stated in his congratulatory message posted on Facebook. The Moldovan official reiterated the fact that the Republic of Moldova and Russia are bound by centuries of shared history, by their common struggle against foreign invaders, their shared faith and Church, by their numerous economic, social and humanitarian relations. Dodon recalled the fact that Russian soldiers shed blood to liberate Moldova. The former president extended a message of gratitude to Russia for its humanitarian assistance granted in the form of Sputnik V anti-COVID-19 vaccines. Igor Dodon said Russian military are conducting peacekeeping operations in the Republic of Moldova and that it is owing to their efforts that there’s been no bloodshed on Moldovan soil for nearly 30 years.
NARRATIVES: 1. Russia is the Republic of Moldova’s most loyal and trusted partner. 2. Russia and Moldova have been fighting off foreign invaders for centuries. 3. Russian soldiers shed blood to liberate Moldovan territory. 4. Due to Russia’s peacekeeping operations, for 30 years there’s been no bloodshed in Moldova.
BACKGROUND: PSRM leader Igor Dodon is a pro-Russian politician, militating for closer relations between Chișinău and Moscow, including through Moldova’s accession to the Eurasian Union. Dodon was overtly backed in the campaign for the 2020 presidential election by Russian officials, including Vladimir Putin. Some political pundits have suggested Igor Dodon might be a covert Russian agent, while journalists with RISE Moldova in partnership with the Dossier Center have investigated the former president’s collaboration with the Russian secret intelligence. Dodon allegedly used the codename “Kremlinovich” in his communications with Russian public servants and politicians.
Igor Dodon and PSRM are promoting the narrative according to which the Republic of Moldova is part of the Russian world, sharing the same history with Russia and fighting together against Russian invaders.
Moreover, the former president has argued in favor of federalization as a solution to the conflict in Transnistria and for maintaining Russian troops on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. One of Igor Dodon’s first actions as president was to pay an official visit to Bender in 2017, where jointly with the separatist leader of Tiraspol he brought floral tributes to the monument of Cossack fighters who opened fire on Moldovan police officers in 1992 and said Moldova should apologize for the war back then.
PURPOSE: The narratives are meant to underscore Moldova’s affiliation to the Russian Federation’s sphere of influence, the so-called “Russian world”, and to paint a positive picture of the Kremlin, describing it as PSRM’s main supporter at international level, as well as the personal relationship Dodon enjoys with the Russian president Vladimir Putin, ahead of the parliamentary election due to take place on July 11, 2021 in the Republic of Moldova. Moreover, the message seeks to clear the Russian army of any involvement in the Transnistrian conflict of 1992.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: The century-old relations between Moldova and Russia that Igor Dodon refers to are in fact determined by Russia’s political interests and expansionist agenda. In 1812, in the aftermath of the Russo-Turkish War, Russia occupied the territory extending between the Prut and Dniester rivers belonging to the Principality of Moldavia. Turned into a Russian guberniya, Bessarabia was treated as any other colony of the Russian Empire. Imperial authorities enforced a powerful denationalization policy against the Romanian population of Bessarabia over 1812-1918, until the collapse of the Russian Empire and the unification of Bessarabia with Romania. The Russification campaign continued even after the occupation of 1940. The Bolshevik Soviet regime terrorized the local population by means of mass arrests, deportations, forcefully seizing lands, impoverishing the masses, forced starvation and labor.
After the fall of the USSR, in order to maintain the Republic of Moldova in its sphere of influence, the Kremlin created the breakaway regions of Transnistria and Gagauzia, which it continues to support to this day. The war in Transnistria was triggered by the separatist regime in Tiraspol in 1992, and was overtly supported by the Russian Federation, which deployed its 14th Guards Army to Tiraspol. The ceasefire agreement was signed by the Moldovan and Russian presidents, Mircea Snegur and Boris Yeltsin, which is further evidence of the fact that the war was fought between Moldova and Russia. Igor Dodon’s statements that Russian military are conducting peacekeeping operations in the Republic of Moldova, and that their efforts have prevented any bloodshed on Moldovan soil for nearly 30 years, is false, since hundreds of Moldovan combatants and volunteers have lost their lives in a war triggered and supported by elements of the Russian army. Russian troops and ammunition are still present to this day here, despite the agreements signed by Russia in this respect. The Operational Group of Russian Forces (OGRF) is still stationed east of the Republic of Moldova, apart from the international peacekeeping force (made up of Moldovan, Russian, Transnistrian troops and Ukrainian observers). OGRF troops have taken part in numerous military exercises jointly with Transnistrian paramilitary units. A member of the Russian peacekeeping corps shot dead a young civilian from Pârâta village as he was crossing Vadul lui Vodă checkpoint on January 1, 2012.
The Kremlin has been trying to undermine the independence of the Republic of Moldova and has made every effort to prevent any attempt at developing closer ties with the European Unions, including economic and energy blackmail, embargos, threats, supporting separatism, etc. Therefore, Igdor Dodon’s statement that the “Russian Federation is our most loyal and trusted strategic partner” is false.
A project supported by the Canadian Embassy in Romania, Bulgaria, and the Republic of Moldova
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