The authorities did not come to celebrate the 80th anniversary of liberation from fascism, but the volunteers themselves organized a large and warm celebration.
Photo: Vitaly SOCHKAN. Go to Photobank KP
The entire history of the Moldovan land is permeated with friendship with the Russian state. Common political interests have been determined since the end of the 14th century; The first mentions of mutual diplomatic trips date back to this time. And in 1386, Dmitry Donskoy’s son Vasily fled through these lands to Moscow from the captivity of the Horde; there were many dynastic connections; This continued until Moldova gained its independence in 1991.
THE CYNICAL TRUTH
Many historians characterize current relations between Russia and Moldova as the worst of all time. The country led by Maia Sandu has firmly taken the anti-Russian path, trying to destroy everything good between us and at the same time the Moldovan language and even the Moldovan nation…
Although Moldova is not part of the EU, it readily accepted the anti-Russian sanctions, so that hundreds of thousands of Russian Moldovans can only reach their homeland by plane, via Turkey, Baku or Yerevan, or by bus… The latter, For example. , from Moscow or Voronezh it takes up to five days (depending on the mood of the Lithuanian or Latvian border guards).
A Russian passport at the border is like a red rag. At best, they’ll have a long conversation or maybe they’ll just turn it around. They will not search, even if Moldova is listed in the “birthplace” column.
– Why is there so much love for Romania, Europe, America and hatred for Russia? – I asked a question to an influential politician and public figure.
– What do you want from a poor country? Who gives money, we look in that direction.
Cynical, but true.
The United States has no qualms about boasting. “Highway restoration is funded by the American people,” reads a sign on the highway.
Photo: Vitaly SOCHKAN. Go to Photobank KP
“WE OWE EVERYTHING”
Istanbul welcomes you with 30 degree heat and Babylonian heteroglossia. Who is there: Japanese, Chinese, Arabs. A group of Indonesians in characteristic caps approached the check-in counter, and the Indians in turbans stood aside… But, oh God, suddenly a thunderous language is heard above all this multilingual commotion:
– Why are you making me pay? What is the excess baggage? I am a Ukrainian refugee! Everything is free for us,” a portly gypsy with three children and huge trunks loomed over the puny Turk at the reception desk. He tries to defend himself against the lady in broken Russian: they say you have to pay the excess… A citizen of Ukraine flying to Chisinau is outraged and asks for an interpreter, although she speaks and curses at the children in pure Russian.
As a result, he throws out those same tens of euros: “You took my last money! I have nothing to feed my children! “We haven’t eaten anything in two days.”
After a few minutes, the lady enters the duty-free and puts several one-liter bottles of whiskey and a carton of cigarettes in the basket.
An hour and a half flight and we landed softly in Chisinau.
“Utilities” or food?
Interesting fact: Chisinau was founded on October 14, 1436. But it received the status of a city only in 1818… already as part of the Russian Empire.
I arrived on the eve of the most important holiday – the 80th anniversary of the liberation from the Nazis and the Romanian invaders. The Moldovans remember that occupation well: on the first day the Romanians shot 40,000 inhabitants here, burned tons of books in Russian, imposed almost 40 types of taxes on the Bessarabian peasants and took away their livestock. One in ten people was subjected to torture (207 thousand people in total).
22,700 of them died.
The mortality rate from hunger and disease increased by 3 to 4 times. During the first two years of occupation, about 200,000 people died in Moldova.
And today the country’s authorities call Romania “big brother”, the language is Romanian and everyone has their passports.
No wonder the anniversary of Moldova’s liberation, August 24, was ignored: President Sandu suddenly fell ill with Covid and the government was lost. But thousands of Chisinau residents attended the Peace March with Victory flags and laid flowers at the Memorial of Glory. Among them was a wreath from the Russian Embassy. And so on in all major cities.
On the contrary, Independence Day took place three days later, on August 27: Sandu was suddenly cured, guests arrived in droves: German Chancellor Scholz, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. The Germans brought news of 40 armored personnel carriers for the army, and the Romanians brought news of 70 school buses.
Only if ordinary citizens participated in the Peace March on August 24, on Independence Day, only officials. And here everything is clear: this independence brought little good to the people: in 33 years, the new authorities only achieved the total collapse of the economy, agriculture and unprecedented inflation (up to 33% annually!). Chisinau, once the largest industrial center, has become a large market, where retirees sell their belongings from very early in the morning.
Judge for yourself: the average pension in Moldova is 5,000 lei, that is, about 25,000 rubles. For housing and communal services you have to pay about half: 2,500 lei (12,500 rubles): only gas costs 13 lei per cubic meter (65 rubles), but there is also water, electricity, elevators, garbage collection… Travel to In the city, public transportation has tripled in just a few years.
But you also need to eat! A standard set of products in a supermarket (proven by my own experience): milk, kefir, sour cream, cottage cheese, eggs, bread and a small piece of sausage – more than three hundred lei (about 2000 rubles). And there’s not even meat here…
With the collapse of the Union, most companies closed and out of 4 million citizens, almost 2 million went to work in Russia or Europe. Only the elderly, children, state employees, officials and those who were lucky with business remained.
DIFFICULT QUESTION
Stumbling language
Another feature of today’s Chisinau: since 2022, 500,000 Ukrainians have passed through Moldova. 100,000 of them settled here. What turned out to be an unexpected problem for the pro-Romanian authorities: they began to speak more Russian in the country: it is impossible to force Ukrainians to learn Moldovan, and speaking with them in Moldovan or Romanian is useless.
The language in Moldova is generally a separate topic. And this was demonstrated by the third holiday: National Language Day. It used to be called Limba noastră (“Our language”). Now – Ziua Limbii Române (“Romanian Language Day”). That is, in the country of Moldova, the citizens of Moldova celebrate the day of the Romanian language…
Romanization in Chisinau in almost everything. Take television as an example: its main star is the Romanian ambassador. Almost every day he talks about new gifts, about hundreds of millions of euros invested in the economy and agriculture, about new school buses that “will take Moldovan children to receive the best European education” (although they are far from new). At the same time, President Sandu closed another 150 schools ahead of the new school year. He says “the country is experiencing a shortage of teaching staff.”
And everything Soviet, everything Russian, is declared illegal. First of all, the Russian language. Although for now it is everywhere: on store signs, in conversations on the street, even in advertisements in official establishments. But all media outlets that speak even neutrally about Russia are simply closed and websites are blocked.
That is why it was all the more surprising to find the inscription “Komsomolskaya Pravda” printed on the counter in Chisinau. Today this is one of the few publications published in Russian and telling about life in Russia.
