The history and textbooks in the Republic of Moldova are rewritten at the behest of globalist forces to justify a confrontation with Russia, says the Russian ambassador to Chișinău.
NEWS: “The history and school textbooks in Moldova are being rewritten at the behest of globalist forces, to justify a confrontation with Russia”, Russian ambassador to Chișinău, Oleg Ozerov, told an interview for TASS, commenting on the new history textbook in which the fascist occupation is called “liberation”.
“Why is this happening? Because there is a great desire to revise history. And why is there a desire to revise history? To justify the confrontation with Russia and the direction of drawing the Republic of Moldova into anti-Russian blocs. That is, in fact, what we are talking about”, the diplomat said.
“This is not even the choice of Moldovan citizens, but an imposition by the European or, better said, globalist elites of the same scenario that was tested in Ukraine. If you take everything that is happening in the field of historical memory in the Republic of Moldova, you will see that it is a faithful copy of what has happened in recent years, even decades, in Ukraine. (…) In my opinion, this dirty attempt to justify the crimes of Antonescu and the Nazi collaborators will lead to nothing”.
NARRATIVES: 1. History textbooks in the Republic of Moldova are Russophobic and justify Nazi crimes. 2. The government in Chișinău is Russophobic.
PURPOSE: To promote the idea that Moldova is following a radical pro-Western plan aimed at eliminating Russian influence and promoting an anti-Russian agenda; to reaffirm the Kremlin’s narratives about “rewriting history” in Eastern Europe, similar to the rhetoric promoted in the case of Ukraine and the Baltic States.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: Ozerov is most likely referring to the 12th grade history textbook, which has been previously criticized. The textbook explains the context of Romania’s entry into World War II, after the annexation of Bessarabia by the USSR as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, concluded by Moscow and Berlin, as well as the Vienna Dictatorship. The textbook tackles the issue of the Holocaust, as well as the Roma Holocaust, and also mentions data included in the final report of the International Commission for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania:
“In the Kingdom of Romania, the Holocaust started in 1938, with the promulgation of the first restrictive anti-Jewish laws by the Goga government, when over 220,000 Jews were deprived of a number of political and civil rights, and continued after Romania's entry into the war, including in the territories controlled by the Romanian state, and ended in 1944”. Ion Antonescu is also presented as being responsible for the Holocaust: “The activity of the Romanian administration in Transnistria was overshadowed by crimes related to the use of Transnistria as a place for the deportation and suppression of Jews and Roma. I. Antonescu had a contradictory policy towards the Jewish question, initially he was reserved and did not accept Nazi policies, but gradually, under pressure, he adopted racial laws, ordered the deportations of Jews and Roma to Transnistria, and collaboration with the Nazis led to numerous victims and the perpetration of crimes against humanity”.
Therefore, we are not dealing with the justification of Nazi crimes, nor with a confrontation with modern Russia.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russian and pro-Russian propaganda have launched several narratives regarding the influence or even control of the West over the authorities in Chișinău, who is allegedly willing to enter the war in Ukraine on the side of Kyiv. A theme used in this context is that of the establishment of a so-called authoritarian regime in Chișinău that is supported by a West that uses democratic principles only to be able to achieve its objectives, without believing in them. Veridica has previously dismantled this type of narrative. Veridica has also debunked false narratives related to the alleged Russophobia promoted by the authorities in Chișinău.
BACKGROUND: Russian and pro-Russian propaganda have been promoting for some time the thesis that the textbook on Romanian and World History from the Republic of Moldova purportedly justify the Holocaust in Romania during World War II.
The topic is promoted to fuel anti-Romanian and anti-Western phobias, especially among ethnic, Russian-speaking minorities, but also to further divide society, given that Moldovan society has contrasting views on some historical events, especially from the first half of the 20th century.
Oleg Ozerov was appointed ambassador to the Republic of Moldova in September 2024, but has not yet been officially accredited by the authorities in Chișinău. Since the Russian Foreign Ministry entrusted him with the mandate, Ozerov has made several contradictory statements and false claims, including some debunked by Veridica, for instance that there is no Russian propaganda in Moldova, or that the EU is turning into a dictatorship.
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