Chisinau orgs demand end to Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

Moldovan organizations point to a 2000 year history where the Dniester river (shown) formed the outmost border of Moldova's land

CHISINAU (Tiraspol Times) - On the anniversary of Moldova's 1940 annexation to the Soviet Union, nationalist Moldovan groups held a protest in front of the Russian Embassy in Chisianu, the capital of the now-independent Republic of Moldova.

Several organizations piquetted the Russian Embassy in Moldova expressing their demand that the remnants of a secret World War II era pact be brought to an end, once and for all.

The organizations demanded an effective end to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact which on 28 June 1940 was used by Stalin to join Moldova with Pridnestrovie and incorporate Moldova into the Soviet Union.

The Unionist Movement of Moldova and the Molotov-Ribbentrop Anti-Pact Association were two of the leading organizers of the demonstration which took place in front of the Russian Embassy in Moldova.

Prior to 1940, Moldova was part of Romania whereas Pridnestrovie (known then as MASSR) was an autonomous republic within the Soviet Union.

The head of the Unionist Movement, Ilie Braty, told the Reporter MD news agency that the protest action was held in order to liquidate the consequences of occupation of Bessarabia by the Soviet Union on 28 June 28 1940. The organization seeks re-unification with Romania. Undoing the Pact's effects would automatically exclude Pridnestrovie (Transdniestria) from Moldova, by restoring the original and historical borders of Moldova's territory.

Prior to the annexation, Moldova was part of Romania whereas Pridnestrovie was an autonomous republic in the Soviet Union. It was known as the M.A.S.S.R. and had Tiraspol as its capital. It included parts of now-Ukraine as well, but did not include any Moldovan territory. The pre-1940 border was the Dniester river.

2000 years of being apart, says Golovca

The chairman of the association Anti-pact Molotov-Ribbentrop, Iacov Golovca, explained to Moldovan news agency 'Reporter' that Moldova had rid itself of a total of 28 other occupants for the past 2000 years.

Although Moldova does not possess a 2000-year history as a state, the territory where Moldova is today located has been settled by inhabitants since Roman times. As a part of the old state of Dacia, it was the forerunner to today's Romania as well.

Dacia ended at the Dniester river, with the river forming a border with Scythia and later Kievan Rus, the forerunner to today's Russia. These old Slavic lands ended at the Dniester river, and

Negotiators from Transdniester point out that a status settlement for the area has to take into account both the historical and ethnic realities. By accepting independence to Transdniester, Moldova will in large part have reverted to its historical border and the border which for thousands of years has traditionally served as the division between majority-Romanian land on one side and majority-Slav land on the other.

The participants in the protest meeting demanded the results of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact to be liquidated immediately.

At its founding, Moldova already declared the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact as being "null and void" and its its 1991 independence declaration announced that "the political and legal consequences of the above be eliminated". In its Declaration of Independence, the Republic of Moldova also unilaterally proclaimed itself to be "a sovereign, independent and democratic state (...) within its historical and ethnic area".

Being the official document which created today's Moldova, this Declaration of Independence has force as a legal document under international law.

See also:
» The shared - and not so shared - history of Pridnestrovie and Moldova
» Moldova's president considers Pridnestrovie a trade-off for losing Bukovina; Budjak

On the web:
» Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Moldova
» Historical maps of Pridnestrovie