P.V. SINADINO

A participant in the events unfolding 90 years ago in Chişinău, Pantelimon Victorovici Sinadino was a deputy in the Parliamentary Assembly (“Magazin istoric”, issue 12/1993) who voted in favor of the union between Bessarabia and Romania. He acted as president of the Greek community in Bessarabia until the outbreak of World War II.
He was born in 1875 in Chişinău. His father, Victor (1841-1904), a leading banker, acted as mayor of Chişină and leader of the Greek community. P.V. Sinadino carried on the family business, being appointed deputy in the Parliament of Petrograd. He had a tragic end, being shot by Soviet soldiers at the Chişinău station, on 28 June 1940, while waiting for the train by which he was supposed to take refuge to Romania. His wife and son had managed to leave town by another train. The last train...
His forefathers were the initiators of a beautiful church in Chişinău, “Sfântul Mare Mucenic Pantelimon”, erected between 1897 and 1891 according to the plans devised by the Italian architect A. Bernadazzi. Members of the Sinadino family had been laid to rest in the church crypt. When the Soviets took control over Bessarabia, the church – just like many other holy places – was desecrated, while the human remains were “thrown away together with the rubble by the Soviet authorities, which transformed the church first into a construction warehouse, then into a cinema movie storage place and finally into a wine exhibition, with the crypt itself becoming the actual hall for wine-tasting”. (Priest Constantin E. Moraitakis; volume compiled by Euripide C. Moraitakis; foreword by academician Virgil Cândea, Bucharest, 2004).
During the interwar years, P.V. Sinadino reminisced and put on paper the events unfolding at a time of groundbreaking changes for the Bessarabians. That marked the birth of his work Amintirile mele despre vremuri grele (“My Recollections of Harsh Times”), whose introduction is dated “18.8.1937, Vatra Dornei”.
He handed over the text, typeset in Russian, to his son, Victor, who – prior to going into exile in Belgium – relinquished it for safekeeping to Paul Petrescu, Ph.D., senior scientific researcher with the History of Arts Institute in Bucharest. In the summer of 1987, Paul Petrescu attended an aesthetics congress in Zürich and never returned to his homeland. Knowing that he would never return, prior to departure, he gave me a sealed envelope reading “a matter of interest to Bessarabia”.
I opened the envelope as late as October 1994, when Paul Petrescu – now in Bucharest – attended my father’s funeral, priest Paul Mihail (1905-1994; Magazin istoric, issue 7/1996). Victor Sinadino, who had handed him the envelope, had passed away as well, so he was now the actual owner of the text. He authorized me to translate and publish the aforementioned memoirs that bring such eventful times to the fore.
P.V. Sinadino’s recollections start with the February 1917 revolution in Petrograd, the activity deployed by the Kerenski government, as well as comments on the anarchy wreaking havoc on the Russian-German front and a description of the atrocities perpetrated by the mobs of defectors from the Russian army. The author also evokes the events unfolding in Chişinău under the terror of Bolshevik gangs, the Parliamentary Assembly’s efforts to maintain order and the steps taken towards unification with the Romanian Kingdom.
I have published several excerpts of P.V. Sinadino’s writings in Bulletin de la Société Roumaine des Études Néogrecques (Bucharest, I, 1999). Hereinafter, in an abridged form, are his recollections dating back to end-1917 and January 1918, which is the endpoint of the manuscript. Our observations are in between brackets.

Professor Zamfira MIHAIL, Ph.D.

“The Noblemen’s House”, a beautiful and spacious building, located on Sadovaia Street, hosting Boys’ School No. 3 and a boarding house, was designated to host also the plenary sessions of the Parliamentary Assembly, the chancelleries and the commissions.
The first solemn meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly was held on 21 November 1917 around noon, following a sermon in Romanian held by Bishop Gavriil [Gurie] attended by all clergymen in the city, the deputies and representatives of local and military authorities. After the sermon, the members of the Parliamentary Assembly invited the officials and the numerous audience over to the Festive Hall of the Boys’ School, where the first solemn gathering of the deputies in the Parliamentary Assembly was declared open by the late Nicolai Nicolaevici Alexandri, the eldest participant.
Afterwards, Pantelimon Vasilievici Erhan – President of the executive gubernial committee in Bessarabia and also member of the Parliamentary Assembly – proposed that the gathering elect Ioan Constantinovici Inculeţ as chairman. With 95 votes in his favor, he was unanimously elected in this position. The commissions returned to work during the following days.
I took part in the first gathering of the Parliamentary Assembly and I read a salutation message on behalf of the Greek minority, a speech that I had prepared some time before. I read it in Russian, immediately after the Polish representative, Pomorszkij, member of the Chişinău Regional Court.
I was not feeling very well and the physician’s diagnosis pointed to anthrax, so in the early days of December I underwent surgery at the Hârbovăţ Hospital. I was bedridden for almost a month.
Until the surgery itself, I attended two or three plenary sessions of the Parliamentary Assembly and I barely managed to work for a couple of days within the Commission drafting the Operating Guidelines of the general assemblies and commissions of the Parliamentary Assembly.
As far as I can remember, other members of the commission included N.N. Codreanu, who was at the time a young communications engineer, but had no knowledge of Romanian whatsoever; Grigorii Carpovici Kirkorov, lawyer with the Chişinău court – a good friend of mine and former classmate at School No. 1 in Chişinău; Ion Buzdugan [Magazin istoric, issue 6/2005], a young supply officer with one of the general staffs of the [Russian] army on the Romanian front. The latter also acted as a translator, since he knew Romanian very well. He was of peasant origin, coming from a village in Bălţi county, and a graduate of the Agronomic School in Chişcăuţi, Soroca county.
The overall state of affairs in Chişinău worsened to an alarming degree towards end-December. The ominous sign of bloody events loomed over the capital. High-ranked members of Bolshevik military organizations became increasingly active and shamelessly started requisitioning lodgings and furniture in Chişinău. It was obvious that they were getting ready for the decisive final step, namely dismissing all administrative bodies appointed by the Parliamentary Assembly.
During that time, scores of people from throughout the city were gathering in the German Square each and every day. They were coming to listen to a large number of ad-hoc orators who, perched up on top of barrels, tables or chairs, were holding fiery speeches on various revolutionary topics. Each such speech would conclude by rallying people against the bourgeoisie, in order to do away once and for all with clerks and landowners. In so doing, the counter-revolutionary Parliamentary Assembly needed to be disbanded and chased away.
Dressed up so as not to differ at all from the other women present there, my wife attended one of these rallies on 9 January 1918, when anonymous speakers were spreading the revolutionary propaganda. There were several orators speaking simultaneously in the German Square. Each one had hundreds of listeners of various social backgrounds next to him: the lower strata from the city outskirts, peasants from around Chişinău, servants of all types, shop-sellers, scores of Jews and soldiers that had deserted their barracks, without wearing a belt and enjoying sunflower seeds. One of the speakers on that particular day, who seemed to be the most successful and was surrounded by the largest number of listeners, started mentioning the bourgeois families in Chişinău that had to be done away with as fiercest enemies of the people. Among them, my family was the first to be mentioned. Upon hearing such terrifying things, my wife rushed back home and shared her experience with me.
In the early days of January 1918, on 7 January if I remember precisely, I went out with my brother Alexandru Victorovici and headed towards the former headquarters of the Noblemen’s and Peasants’ Bank, the Chişinău branch, which was now the head office of the General Council of Directors [the government of Bessarabia], with all the related chancelleries. I knew from various sources that none of the general directors, not even I.C. Inculeţ, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly, had been spotted around for days. Rumor had it that he had left incognito for Iaşi in order to call for Romanian army support, since peasants and Bolshevik soldiers could no longer be reined in by the authority of general directors, headed by their president Erhan. The concierge of the institution confirmed the rumor.
However, for the sake of historical truth, I should point out that neither Inculeţ, nor Erhan was present in Iaşi to meet with ministers of the Romanian government then or before. Moreover, within the last 10 days prior to the Romanian troops’ arrival, they did not show up at work at the head office of the General Directorate and kept a low profile around town so as not to trigger the people’s rage. All buildings of Princess Dadiani’s Gymnasium, on Kiev Street, had been requisitioned in order to host the General Staff of the Front, headed by defectors Peiper, Levensohn, Kabak and others. Among them was lately spotted Katovski [the author spelled the name according to its pronunciation; G.I. Kotovski, 1881-1925, a former fighter in the Bolshevik troops; in November 1917, he was at the helm of the 6th Army engaged on the Romanian front; at the end of 1917, he was leading the Bolshevik units fighting in Chişinău; one of the military leaders of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova; member of the communist party in the Soviet Union starting 1920], who had made “a name” for himself even before the war, as an outright thief on the Orhei-Chişinău road, plus other wrongdoings in Chişinău. Other members of the Parliamentary Assembly went to Iaşi for personal contacts and demand for assistance: I. Pelivan [Magazin istoric, issues 3, 4 / 2006], V. Ţanţu, Vl. Cristi and others. But, in the beginning, as long as there were still connections with Russia, the authorities in Iaşi refrained from promising any form of support whatsoever. Ionel Brătianu, Chairman of the Council of Ministers, was particularly reluctant with regard to this issue: minister Alecu Constantinescu was much more active in the relations with Bessarabians. It was thanks to his resoluteness and unyielding energy that numerous bands from the former Russian army could be annihilated, while also finding the necessary means for them to be disarmed and expelled from Moldova into Russia, of course by crossing Bessarabian territory.
The connection between the commandment of the Russian general Shcerbacev and General Prezan, as an agent of the recon-information service, was provided by lieutenant Andrei Scobiola, a former primary school teacher in rural areas, and then a middle-school teacher and a delegate in the Russian Constituent Assembly. Ion Buzdugan acted as translator. As far as the Russian Commandment was concerned, the connection on the part of the Romanian Army Staff was ensured by the former middle-school teacher Şt. Berechet, a graduate of the Theological Academy in Kyiv.
The man the officials trusted most in respect to the Bessarabian issue was Ion Pelivan, a former city judge in Bălţi, an enthusiast Romania-lover ever since graduating the Theological Seminar in Chişinău and attending Law school at the University of Dorpat (Iuriev); he had been imprisoned and deported to Arhanghelsk for propaganda and participating in student revolutionary movements. He had always overtly voiced his convictions. Moreover, in May 1912, while still acting as a judge in Bălţi, he put a black flag as a sign of mourning in front of his house upon celebrating the 100th anniversary of Bessarabia’s annexation by Russia. Of course, he was dismissed without delay via a telegram dispatched by the Minister of Justice, Shcelgovitov, which did not deter him from enrolling as a lawyer with the Chişinău Judge’s Office after a while. After talks with General Prezan, Alecu Constantinescu agreed to host the meeting between the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the two delegates from Bessarabia in his own house, provided that the meeting is attended by Take Ionescu, Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well.
Pelivan and Scobiola were received at the end of October 1917. They brought news of the anarchy raging on in Bessarabia, of the collapse of the power both locally and in Petrograd, while voicing their opinion that energetic measures were needed in order to instate a local or national power favorable to Romania. As lieutenant Scobiola put it, in the absence of such measures, there was no chance in sight to rescue this piece of land from the Bolsheviks’ hands. Pelivan also expressed the desire to see Bessarabia reunite with Romania, given that the Russian state was disbanded in the aftermath of the revolution. Besides, there was a strong connection between Bessarabia and Romania in terms of language, kinship and nationality. Until 1812 it had been an integral part of the province of Moldova, while two [three] counties in the south, [Bolgrad], Ismail and Cahul, had belonged to the Romanian Kingdom during 1854-1878 following the Treaty of Paris.
Those were the reasons why both delegates insisted that the Romanian authorities deploy as soon as possible a trustworthy armed squad to Chişinău in order to secure the army’s equipment supplies in Bessarabia, as well as the grain barns and other storage places for army use.
Take Ionescu replied that he understood and empathized with their patriotic feelings and points of view, but this was an utterly complex issue, requiring a thorough analysis, since they were talking about a region incorporated in a country that Romania was an ally of.
He recommended that the Parliamentary Assembly be activated as soon as possible and try to peacefully appease the Bolshevik propaganda, while also starting to hand out ownership deeds to peasants over the plots of land.
Alecu Constantinescu encouraged the delegates and reassured them upon their departure: “we will see to it that your requests and complaints are properly dealt with; we will be there by your side”.
After slaughtering landowners, setting mansions on fire and looting everything in sight, the Bolshevik wave and acts of devastation gained momentum instead of slowing down. Pelivan şi Scobiola had another meeting in Iaşi with minister Alecu Constantinescu in early December. They repeated their October report, asking even more adamantly for the deployment of troops because, otherwise, the course of events could not be predicted, as Bolshevism of Russian inspiration overran entire Bessarabia. Minister Constantinescu promised to persuade Ionel Brătianu to deploy Romanian soldiers – with the approval of general Shcerbacev, the Russian supreme commander – in order to guard the army’s supply dumps. He also expressed his hope that the troops would reach Bessarabia soon enough.
Andrei Scobiola went to Iaşi for the third time and for the same reason, meeting I. [I.C.] Brătianu, Chairman of the Council of Ministers, on 16 December 1917. He pointed out that the Parliamentary Assembly and its directors did not actually hold the executive and administrative power, but rather had to accept a passive role. Moreover, amid the Bolshevik propaganda and seeing that the Romanians did nothing to help out the local power, peasants actually doubted the need for union. The Romanian soldiers’ support was needed to secure the army’s supply dumps located there.
The Chairman of the Council of Ministers, I. Brătianu, answered that he was familiar with the issue from Vasile Ţanţu (a former lieutenant, translator of the supreme commander of the Russian General Army Staff), Pelivan and other Romanian citizens of Bessarabian origin. However, he referred to the complexity of the issue and the need to have the approval of the commander-in-chief, general Shcerbacev, and implicitly of the ambassadors [ministers, since the countries were represented by legations] of France, England and the United States. “One way or another”, Brătianu added, “the Romanian troops will be in Chişinău on 22 December”. In reality, they arrived on 13 January 1918. Initially, following general Shcerbacev’s approval, the Romanian authorities had deployed a squad consisting of former Austrian prisoners but, by order of Peiper&Co at the Russian General Staff of the Front in Chişinău hosted by the Dadiani Gymnasium, they were disarmed at the very first train station in Bessarabia.
General Ernest Broşteanu marching into Chişinău in front of the 2nd Infantry Division on 13 January was an act of prudence, of political opportunity and meant the salvation of both the capital city and the entire province of Bessarabia.

De o sută şi doisprezece ani, orice român a considerat şi consideră Basarabia ca pe pământ românesc, ocupată odinioară cu forţa de Rusia. Plebiscit? Dar oare în anul de jale 1812, când Rusia a smuls Basarabia de la sânul Moldovei, fost-a vorba de un plebiscit?

„Prin cele petrecute acolo, s-a săpat o prăpastie între noi şi basarabeni. Explic. Guvernele care s-au succedat, preocupate de chestiuni fundamentale în reorganizarea noastră ca stat, au neglijat starea de fapt ce se crea, fără ştirea lor, în această provincie, căreia i se cereau numai majorităţi în alegeri.“

„Colo-n vale la Ţiganca/Stăteau ruşii-n cazemate/Şi ne băteau cu grenade,/Cu grenade şi şrapnele/Şi cu puşti-mitraliere.“

Avanpremieră editorială

ODISEEA BUCOVINENILOR

DRUMUL

După cum aţi aflat din numărul anterior, lucrarea Golgota românească. Mărturiile bucovinenilor deportaţi în Siberia, culese de Dumitru Covalciuc, în curs de apariţie la Editura Curtea Veche (ediţie şi note de autoarea acestor rânduri) rememorează episoade tragice dintr-o perioadă tulbure a istoriei contemporane, respectiv deportarea românilor basarabeni şi bucovineni la 13 iunie 1941, efectuată de puterea sovietică.

Liliana COROBCA

● Vagoane cu oameni ca peştii în conserve, sleiţi de foame şi sete ● Cei morţi erau aruncaţi din tren ● Apa de băut? Stropi de ploaie, adunaţi în gamele ● Naştere sub privirile tuturor ● Bebeluşi urlând de foame sau pierind în faţa părinţilor distruşi ● În bordeie de pământ şi barăci, cu ploşniţele colcăind ● Kazahi, uzbeci, tătari, poloni, români, nemţi de pe Volga, ceceni – exterminaţi ● Împuşcat fără avertisment, pentru că a depăşit zona interzisă ca să culeagă poame

„Colo-n vale la Ţiganca/Stăteau ruşii-n cazemate/Şi ne băteau cu grenade,/Cu grenade şi şrapnele/Şi cu puşti-mitraliere.“

9 mai 1945, data anunţării capitulării necondiţionate a Germaniei, a însemnat pentru omenire sfârşitul calvarului celui de-al doilea război mondial. Divergenţele dintre Aliaţi aveau să răbufnească la scurt timp, dovedind că numai duşmanul comun i-a coagulat conjunctural. Neînţelegerile şi disputele dintre ei, prezente pe toată perioada conflictului, au marcat şi ziua însăşi a finalului: a fost 8 sau 9 mai? Capitularea necondiţionată s-a desfăşurat în doi timpi. Prima la Reims, în Franţa, unde actul a fost semnat de germanii feldmareşal Jodl, amiral Friedenburg şi general Oxenius, respectiv de generalii americani Bedell Smith şi Carl Spaats, cât şi de amiralul Burrough, de generalii britanic F. Morgan, francez Fr. Sevez şi ruşi Kornişeev şi Susloparov.

În R.S.S.Moldovenească, după 1944, au fost aduşi din U.R.S.S. şi instalaţi în diferite funcţii de conducere nu numai şefi de rang superior, ci şi tot felul de aventurieri, inşi fără nici o pregătire. În rândul celor veniţi se nimereau, desigur, şi oameni cumsecade.

    ANALIZA ATACURILOR DIN 7 APRILIE RAMINE DEFICITARA SI PARTIZANA
   
    Institutiile statului Republica Moldova au fost devastate in ziua de 7 Aprilie in mod salbatic.

Ioan-Aurel Pop, membru corespondent al Academiei Romane, 650 ani de statalitate moldoveneasca, o sarbatoare inventata

 Recent mi-a ajuns sub ochi o probă nouă a „moldovenismului“, cultivat cu încăpăţânare de unii de peste Prut.

Institutiile statului Republica Moldova au fost devastate in ziua de 7 Aprilie in mod salbatic. Patru zile dupa aceasta dezlantuire, analiza evenimentelor din partea tuturor partilor implicate imi pare total ne-adecvata, un amestec de naivitatzi si partizanat politic ingust. In loc de dezbateri reale, vedem si auzim multe monologuri; cred ca Europa  Libera este o rara exceptie de la aceasta trista regula. Iata cateva dintre subiectele care lipsesc din monologurile chisinauene, atit ale autoritatilor si sustinatorilor acestora, cat si ale opozitiei si simpatizantilor ei din societatea civila.

Invitindu-i pe sefii misiunilor diplomatice la resedinta sa de la Condritza, Presedintele Vladimir Voronin le-a adresat diplomatilor occidentali un sir de intrebari pline de ingrijorare si amaraciune. Printre altele si aceasta intrebare: de ce oare cineva crede ca Presedintele Moldovei va fi mai putin patriot decit presedintii altor tari? Care este temeiul acestei aprecieri?

Inca nu cunoastem rezultatele intilnirii din 22 Iunie a Presedintelui moldovean Vladimir Voronin cu Presedintele rus Vladimir Putin la Moscova. Dar stim sigur ca R. Moldova cere cu toata fermitatea retragerea trupelor rusesti, iar Statele Unite si Uniunea Europeana sustin pozitia Chisinaului.

Declaraţiile din 20 şi 25 iulie ale preşedintelui Vladimir Voronin conţin trei riscuri majore la adresa Republicii Moldova. E posibil că Preşedintele şi consilierii săi nu conştientizează aceste riscuri în deplină masură.

La Viena s-a incheiat astazi Conferinta extraordinara a celor 30 de tari semnatare ale Tratatului despre Armele Conventionale in Europa. E vorba despre Tratatul semnat in 1999 la Istanbul care include, printre altele, si angajamentul Rusiei de a-si retrage trupele din Republica Moldova si Georgia.

Republica Moldova va fi, probabil, unul dintre subiectele discutiei la apropiatul Summit G-8 de la Sankt Petersburg, unde presedintele american George Bush si alti sase sefi de stat din lumea libera se vor intilni cu presedintele rus Vladimir Putin.

Când ţăranul moldovean vede că cineva încearcă să-l înşele, să-l amăgească, el spune că cineva încearcă să-l îmbete cu apă chioară. Desigur, cunoaştem şi fenomenul auto-îmbătării cu apă chioară, atunci când omul se amăgeşte pe sine însuşi.

Recomandarile oferite de reprezentantul Uniunii Europene pentru R.Moldova, Kalman Mizsei, in 10 iulie la Bucuresti au stirnit contra-declaratii polemice in presa bucuresteana si in unele ziare chisinauene. Trei lucruri i se reproseaza d-lui Mizsei si, indirect, Uniunii Europene pe care dinsul o reprezinta.

In precedentele doua editoriale am analizat posibilitatile, inca destul de largi, ale Presedintelui Vladimir Voronin de a-si asigura un loc de onoare in istoria Republicii Moldova in cei doi ani care-i ramin pina la sfirsitul mandatului prezidential.

OSCE se va intruni pentru conferintza de sfirsit de an la Bruxelles in zilele de 4-5 Decembrie. Proiectul declaratiei finale a conferintei, pregatit de presedintia belgiana a OSCE, face Rusiei un mare cadou.

Consilierul prezidenţial Mark Tcaciuc şi ministrul reintegrării Vasile Şova au plecat într-o vizită neanunţată la Moscova, aceasta fiind cea de-a cincea vizită a domnilor Tcaciuc şi Şova la Moscova în ultimele cinci luni. Despre faptul că vizitele au avut loc s-a anunţat post-factum, fără nici un fel de amănunte.

Discuţiile neoficiale, purtate de reprezentanţi ai Chişinăului la Moscova în decursul câtorva luni, s-au terminat săptămâna aceasta. Singurul lor rezultat este pierderea iluziilor.
În comentariul de vinerea trecută am făcut o trecere în revista a acestor discuţii bilaterale despre conflictul transnistrean, arătând cauzele pentru care nu aveau cum să reuşească.

Din punctul de vedere al Republicii Moldova, conferinta de sfirsit de an a OSCE a demonstrat doua fapte: Unul devenise de mult cunoscut: neputinta acestei organizatii. Celalalt fapt este o premiera: succesul Chisinaului in a mobiliza sustinerea Statelor Unite si a Uniunii Europene, care au cerut ferm retragerea trupelor rusesti din Republica Moldova.

Saptamana aceasta, Presedintele Vladimir Voronin intra in cea de-a doua jumatate a celui de-al doilea si ultim mandat prezidential. In care domenii de activitate poate dansul sa-si incheie mandatul cu succes, asigurindu-si o imagine pozitiva in istoria statului ? Aceasta intrebare se va pune din ce in ce mai des pe parcursul urmatorilor doi ani.

Se conturează oare, în anul 2007, evoluţii care ar putea conduce către reîntregirea Republicii Moldova cu Transnistria până în anul 2008 ?

Reuniunea de sfirsit de an a OSCE, programata pentru inceputul lunii Decembrie in Slovenia, va marca, sper, si data la care Republica Moldova se va emancipa in sfirsit de sub tutela acestei organizatii, de fapt inexistenta ca actor de securitate in Europa.

Un principiu al relatiilor dintre state, principiu statornicit inca in Europa Evului Mediu, spune in limba latina a epocii: “Nihil de nobis sine nobis”, adica “Despre noi nu se discuta in lipsa noastra”. Cu alte cuvinte, soarta unui stat nu poate fi discutata de catre alte state daca statul vizat nu e participant la discutii.

Preşedintele rus Vladimir Putin a anunţat că Rusia nu va mai respecta tratatul despre armamentele convenţionale în Europa, dacă tratatul nu va fi revizuit în interesul Rusiei. Kremlinul avertizează că Rusia va suspenda participarea ei la acest tratat în termen de 5 luni şi va ieşi cu totul din tratat după alte 5 luni.

Discutiile prea teoretice despre modificarea formatului negocierilor au abatut atentia de la o problema de ordin practic careia trebuie sa-i facem fatza acum. Se contureaza din ce in ce mai clara intentia Kievului si a OSCE sa monitorizeze alegeri in Transnistria in anul 2006, cu scopul de a recunoaste alegerile ca valabile din punct de vedere democratic si a legifera rezultatele acestora. Nu in Decembrie 2005, ci in 2006.

La 21 Octombrie s-au implinit 11 ani de cind primii ministri de atunci ai Rusiei si Republicii Moldova, Viktor Cernomirdin si Andrei Sangheli, au semnat acordul din 1994 pentru retragerea trupelor rusesti de pe teritoriul Republicii Moldova in termen de trei ani, adica pina in 1997.

Intrarea Statelor Unite si a Uniunii Europene in rolul limitat de observatori la negocieri este de fapt un non-eveniment pentru Republica Moldova. Faptul ca Moscova si Tiraspolul au acceptat aceasta revizuire a formatului imi reaminteste vorba unui personaj al lui Caragiale: “Sint de acord sa se revizuiasca, dar atunci sa nu se schimbe nimica.” Sau aproape nimic, in cazul nostru.

Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin will attend NATO’s summit in early April to seek a post-summit endorsement of Moldova’s permanent neutrality. To satisfy Russia in the bilateral negotiations on the Transnistria conflict, Voronin seeks a document that would enshrine Moldova’s neutrality, to be signed by the Western powers and Russia.

On December 7 Moldova failed in its fifth attempt this year to elect a head of state in parliament. The Communist Party, which governed from 2001 to September 2009 and retains 48 seats in this parliament, blocked the election of Marian Lupu, presidential candidate of the now-governing Alliance for European Integration (AEI) of four parties. Lupu, who leads the Democratic Party within the AEI, received all of the AEI’s 53 votes. Under Moldova’s constitution, however, the president is elected with at least 61 votes in favor in the 101-seat parliament (Moldpres, December 7).

Apparently panicking in the run-up to the April 5 elections, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin has hoisted the white flag of surrender on Transnistria in return for a pre-election endorsement from the Kremlin. The president can not run for a third term of office but his Communist Party hopes to profit from the Kremlin's televised accolades to Voronin.

Crowds of young rioters overran, ransacked, and set on fire the presidential and parliament buildings in Moldova's capital Chisinau on April 7. This outbreak may serve to embolden radical groups in Georgia on the eve of their April 9 demonstration, the declared goal of which is to force a change of government in Tbilisi.

As anticipated (see EDM, March 19, 20) the nominally Communist Party has won Moldova's parliamentary elections on April 5, far outdistancing the parties that ran on anti-communist platforms. On paper at least--and every fourth year in real practice--Moldova is a parliamentary republic. The new parliament will approve the country's government and elect a new president in place of the incumbent Vladimir Voronin, who has served out his second and final term of office.

Almost 20 years after Eastern Europe embarked on the post-communist transition, Moldova has a chance to launch that process in earnest after the repeat parliamentary elections held on July 29. The repeat elections' outcome is almost as indecisive as that of the April 5 elections. The Communist Party (in power since 2001) won for the fourth consecutive time, but has now fallen short of the absolute majority necessary for governing. There are four opposition parties in the new parliament, and they are divided by outlook and interests.

From October 30 to November 1 the Moldovan parliamentary majority’s candidate for head of state, Western-oriented Marian Lupu, as well as the communist opposition leader, former head of state (2001-2009) Vladimir Voronin, undertook parallel visits to Moscow upon invitations there. Such a turn of events is unprecedented in Moldova since 1991 and would have been almost inconceivable even a few months ago. Russia is now bidding to become a power broker in Moldova’s internal politics.

Russia currently holds a greater degree of relevance and influence in Moldovan politics than at any time during the eight years of nominal communist rule (2001-2009) and indeed since 1991 in that country. Russia’s growing political role is a direct result of Moldova’s indecisive parliamentary elections held in April and July 2009--followed by two failed presidential elections--with yet another round of elections possible in 2010. This has created unprecedented scope for Russia to insert itself in Moldova’s internal political game as a would-be power broker. Russia is now competing with the European Union for the role of mediator in Moldova’s political and constitutional crisis. Russia's and the EU's preferences for Moldovan president, however, converge on Marian Lupu, leader of the Democratic Party within the four-party governing alliance.

On September 15 Russia officially warned that it would intercept and detain Georgian coastal guard boats in the Black Sea, if these attempt to interfere with ships that trade with Abkhazia, or if the Georgian boats otherwise trespass Abkhazia's "maritime border" into "Abkhazia's waters." The warning accompanies the deployment of Russian coastal guard units to Abkhazia (see EDM, September 16).

Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin's signature on the March 18 Moscow declaration, with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Transnistria's leader Igor Smirnov (Interfax, Russian MFA website, March 18, 19; see EDM, March 20, 25), amounts to a surrender in the final days of Voronin's presidency. This political document has solidified Russia's military presence and increased Russia's scope for influencing Moldova's policy choices through manipulation of the Transnistria conflict. These are the short-term effects and may extend beyond the short term unless a post-Voronin government disavows this move.

The political crisis (see EDM, April 7, 9, and article above) seems narrowly confined to downtown Chisinau with its state institutions, political party headquarters, and those colleges and lyceums that supply anti-authority demonstrators from time to time. Beyond Chisinau's center, however, the countryside, "the profound Moldova," remains apathetic and seemingly uninterested. There, opinion surveys consistently find Voronin and other leaders of the nominally Communist authorities topping the popularity ratings. Political parties as such are ranked at the very bottom in terms of public confidence.

Moldova faces a prolonged political crisis following the April 7 violent devastation of the parliament and presidential buildings by a young mob, after the opposition's loss of the April 5 parliamentary elections (see EDM, April 7, 9). The election observation mission, representing the major European institutions, has assessed the elections positively overall, in no way questioning the outcome and accepting it as a genuine expression of voters' choice. Nevertheless, the three opposition parties that have entered the new parliament are pushing for new elections in hopes of reversing the outcome. This is the second case ever (after Georgia last year and this) of self-characterized pro-Western politicians rejecting the Western observers' assessment of the elections and taking to the streets.

Two electoral cycles behind most of Eastern Europe, Moldova stands on the brink of the post-post-Communist era. Uniquely in Moldova, moreover, the post-communist transition and the post-post-communist era will be telescoped into a single stage, the start of which is now. Other East European countries traversed this process within 10 to 15 years after the Soviet Union's and Soviet bloc's demise. In Moldova's case, however, this process was stunted (though not fully interrupted) by the communists' recapture and maintenance of power through successful exploitation of formal electoral processes.

Moldova's parliamentary elections on April 5, the subsequent confrontations, and repeat elections on July 29, along with ambiguities and loopholes in the fundamental law, dragged the country's political system into a constitutional crisis. The system is now working its way out of that situation in a complicated parliamentary arithmetic. The four-party Alliance for European Integration (AEI) holds 53 seats, and the nominal Communist Party 48 seats in the 101-seat parliament.

Another appeal to Western governments from renowned public figures, this time over Georgia, has appeared in European newspapers (Le Monde, Die Welt, The Guardian, Corriere della Sera, September 22, 23). It is signed by the Czech, Lithuanian, and Estonian former heads of state and government--Vaclav Havel, Vytautas Landsbergis, Valdas Adamkus, Mart Laar--as well as by the Polish Solidarity movement's political theorist Adam Michnik, the Paneuropa movement's founding president Otto von Habsburg, French liberal opinion leaders Bernard-Henri Levy and Andre Glucksmann, and prominent European cultural figures. The document urges Western governments to take a stand against Russia's occupation of Georgian territories and its continuing threats to Georgia.

On July 8 Moldova officially enters a tension-filled campaign for repeat parliamentary elections, barely three months after holding regular quadrennial elections. The repeat elections are scheduled for July 29, to be followed by the election of a new head of state in the new parliament. The presidency is technically vacant, the parliament is dissolved, and the government serves in a caretaker capacity with limited powers (Moldpres, Basapres, July 1-6).

A PECULIAR COMMUNIST PARTY RUNS FOR REELECTION IN MOLDOVA
(Moldova's Political Landscape on the Eve of General Elections: Part I of three)

by Vladimir Socor

Moldova will hold parliamentary elections on April 5, and its new parliament will elect the new president and confirm a new government. Incumbent President Vladimir Voronin's second, final term of office expires in April. The transition process ahead will severely test the country's weak political system. Moldovan elections seem baffling and fraught with complexities like the country itself, in ways often eluding outside observers.