More Background...

Today a couple folks from the US Embassy led an excellent session on the recent political history of Moldova. Here’s what I learned…

What is now known as Moldova has at one time or another been a part of various empires. Within the last century, it has gone back and forth between Romania and the former Soviet Union and it is still pulled in both directions as well as toward embracing its new independence. A couple important dates:

1812 – Moldova (called Bessarabia) becomes part of Russia
1917 – The Bolsheviks take control in Russia and agree to withdraw from Moldova to appease Germany
1920 – Moldova becomes part of Romania again, as it was before 1812
[Russia and Romania do not maintain diplomatic relations during WWI over dispute about ownership of Moldova/Bessarabia
post-WWII: Romania takes over Moldova and Transylvania, doubling its size
1924 – The USSR creates the Moldovan Autonomous Soveit Socialist Republic (MASSR) comprised of parts of current western Ukraine and current Transinistria (a currently disputed territory on the east coast of Moldova – see more on Transinistria below). The MASSR is essentially set up to allow the USSR to continue to lay claim to the rest of Moldova/Bessarabia, which is still controlled by Romania. The MASSR claims the city of Chisinau as its capital even though it lies within the borders of the Romanian controlled Moldova.
1941 – The Romanians attack as part of the Axis powers during WWII. They take much land in the MASSR and Ukraine
post-WWII: The USSR reclaims all lost territory. Current boundary of Moldova and Ukraine is set, with Transinistria as part of Moldova
1991 – USSR collapses and Moldova becomes an independent nation.

When Moldova declared its independence, two parts of the new country also declared their own independence – Gaguzia in the south and Transinistria in the east. These two areas were concerned that the newly independent nation of Moldova might wish to rejoin Romania, which they did not wish to do being more aligned with the former-USSR and Russia. In 1992 a civil war broke out between Transinistria and Moldova in which 300 people were killed before a cease-fire was negotiated. In 1994 Moldova officially adopted its Constitution and Gaguzia agreed to accept a special status as a semi-independent part of Moldova; Transinistria does not accept the same deal.

Transinistria still remains in a sort-of limbo. This tiny sliver of land between Moldova and Ukraine claims independence, but is not recognized by any other nation. It has its own currency and Russian troops act as peace keepers. It’s sort of like an open sore on Moldovan’s border and I do not think the nation can move far forward – and it certainly cannot gain entry into the European Union – until this issue is resolved.