[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 40 (Friday, March 26, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E454-E456]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE UNITED STATES, ROMANIA, AND . . . MOLDOVA
______
HON. JIM GIBBONS
of nevada
in the house of representatives
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I respectfully request that the following
document be entered into the Congressional Record. As you may know,
many of my constituents and friends in the state of Nevada are of
Romanian descent, and it is with those individuals in mind that I make
this request.
The Romanian-American Community greeted with joy the fall
of communist dictatorships and the dissolution of the former
Soviet Union. They also greeted with optimism the declaration
of independence of the newly created Republic of Moldova .
Their paramount hope was that the people of this republic, of
whom the majority are ethnic Romanians, would develop along
democratic lines and would become part of the enlarged
European family. Their joy was short-lived. Russia soon
launched a new geopolitical policy aimed at bringing back to
its fold Moldova and other parts of the former Soviet Union.
As of March 2004, Belarus is well under Moscow's control,
Ukraine is barely capable of claiming its independence, and
Moldova has virtually collapsed as a result of new Russian
political pressure and economic strangulation. The communist
government of Moldova has recently withdrawn the
parliamentary immunity of the last members of the democratic
opposition and is ready to imprison them. Due to these
humanitarian, political, and geopolitical reasons, the
Romanian communities of the United States have changed their
views and have suggested a new policy toward Moldova . . .
Here is their new stand as prepared by Dr. Nicholas Dima.)
the united states, romania, and . . . moldova
This essay represents the position of a large number of
responsible and loyal American citizens of Romanian descent
with regard to the current status of the Republic of Moldova.
Heretofore, we present the facts.
[[Page E455]]
Since times immemorial, the current Republic of Moldova
(better known as Bessarabia) has been populated by Romanians.
During medieval times, this land was the eastern half of the
Principality of Moldova, one of the three principalities that
made up modern Romania. Tsarist Russia occupied it for the
first time in 1812 and used it to further expand into
southeast Europe. Russian interference in the Danube and the
Black Sea navigation caused the West to side with Turkey
during the Crimean War of 1856. At the end of the war, Russia
was forced to retreat from the Danube and southern
Bessarabia. Nevertheless, the tsars occupied the whole
province again following the new war of 1877. Then, after the
Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the province voted to reunite
once and for all with Romania. Unfortunately, the new Soviet
Union did not accept the union and somewhat puzzling for us,
the United States did not ratify the union of Bessarabia with
Romania either.
Between WWI and WWII Moscow promoted a policy of
territorial expansion and global communism. In this part of
Europe, Moscow pursued the goal of re-annexing Bessarabia and
further intruding in the Balkans. This policy was implemented
after Nazi Germany and communist Soviet Union signed the
Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact to divide Eastern Europe. The Soviet
republic of Moldova was thus set up in 1940 after the Red
Army invaded the province. Actually, in anticipation of the
annexation, as early as 1924 Moscow had set up an autonomous
Moldavian republic on the left bank of the Dnestr in the
Ukraine. Its sole purpose was to prepare the future
annexation. When the occupation of the province was
accomplished in June 1940, Moscow disbanded the autonomous
republic and returned to Ukraine part of it together with the
northern and southern parts of Bessarabia. The old name that
recalled the Romanian origin of the province was banned from
the Soviet vocabulary. To further complicate the issue,
Moscow incorporated into the new Moldavian SSR a slice of
land on the left bank of Dnestr with the city of Tiraspol as
its center. Ever since, this highly Russified industrial area
has remained a cauldron of communism and expansionism.
The ethnic Romanian majority of the occupied territory was
never asked if they wanted to be part of the USSR. Neither
were the other ethnic groups asked if they wanted to be
annexed or arbitrarily divided between the newly created
republic and the Ukraine. Furthermore, well-informed
international circles as well as local survivors have
revealed that during and after WWII up to a million
inhabitants of Soviet Moldova, mostly Romanians, were
arrested, deported or killed by the Soviet authorities. At
the same time, Moscow sent hundreds of thousands of Russians
to replace the local Romanians and to secure the allegiance
of the new republic. Yet, to this day two thirds of the
population of this land is still ethnic Romanian although
they have been forced to call themselves Moldavan.
Perestroika of the 1980's brought new hopes of freedom to
the peoples of the USSR, and by the early 1990's every Soviet
republic including Moldova had declared its independence.
However, to prevent Moldova's reunification with Romania, the
Russians from Tiraspol declared the independence of their
region and named it the Dnestr Moldavian republic. Soon
after, a war between Moldovan authorities and this
territorial entity erupted with disastrous consequences. Ever
since the Trans Dnestr region has remained a communist
stronghold and a hub of arms trafficking, smuggling, and
other illegal activities. It should be stressed that most of
the Tiraspol leaders are Russian citizens who were planted
there by Moscow in the 1980's. It should also be underlined
that most of them are involved in illicit activities and many
have been banned from traveling in West Europe.
After the dismemberment of the Soviet Union, Russia
continued to keep military units and huge quantities of
equipment and ammunitions in the Trans Dnestr region. As
recently as December 7, 2003, for example, ``The Washington
Post'' wrote that this enclave has been led by mafia-style
leaders and has remained, an extremely dangerous place for
black marketing in weapons. According to The Washington
Post'', ``this area has 50,000 tons of shells, mines and
rockets, enough to fill 2,500 boxcars''. The same paper also
points out that the Trans Dnestr region has a sizeable
quantity of dirty bomb warheads and possibly other weapons of
mass destruction ready to be sold to whoever has the cash
to acquire them. Nonetheless, the new Russian authorities
under President Putin continue to back this separatist
region and its leaders. It is obvious that Moscow has not
relinquished its expansionist aspirations toward the
Balkans and the Black Sea. Actually, several Russian
political leaders have stated openly that Moldova, as well
as Georgia in the Caucasian region, are areas of
traditional Russian interests and that they should be kept
under Moscow's control. While the population of the
Russian Federation is ailing and suffers grave
misfortunes, Moscow is wasting its resources pursuing 19th
century geopolitics.
Ever since the overthrow of Ceausescu's dictatorship in
l989, the Romanians looked to the West for guidance and to
the East hoping to reunite Bessarabia with the country.
Romania, however, has been economically ruined and
politically disoriented and does not have the means to
resolve by itself this old geopolitical wound. At the same
time, the Romanians expected some Western support to redress
the situation, but they did not get any. No wonder some
Romanians question whether there is a new agreement signed at
Malta, similar to the Yalta accords, that leaves the eastern
part of Moldova in a new Russian sphere?
At the beginning of the new millennium the European Union
is looking toward unifying the old continent. Concomitantly,
NATO and the United States are integrating new friends and
allies in Eastern Europe. The Balkans, however, is still a
dangerous place and is very close to the Middle East and
south Asia. Romania has an important geopolitical and geo-
strategic location and the Romanians are overwhelmingly pro-
Western and pro-American. They have already welcomed American
troops and military bases on their soil. Yet, they are
questioning the soundness of the official U.S. policy with
regard to Moldova.
Indeed, loyal American citizens of Romanian origin are
surprised to see that the U.S. is still taking for granted
this new state entity that has no merits, no adequate means
of survival, and no raison d'etre. While the world has
condemned the Ribbentr-Molotov Pact, Washington continues to
accept its legacy. For the time being and given the drive to
join NATO and the European Union, the Romanian officials are
not willing to challenge the U.S. stand, but the time will
come when the issue will be raised again, and the people are
waiting. The United States should be proactive rather than
reactive and be prepared to deal with this matter in a manner
that would not offend the Romanians and would not hurt
American interests.
The decade of the 1990's was extremely difficult for the
Republic of Moldova. From an economic standpoint, Russia
strangled the small republic. From a politic point of view,
Moscow spent huge amounts of money to keep it in its sphere.
From an ethnic point of view, the local Russians did
everything to prevent the Romanian majority from cultivating
their culture and pursuing their roots. At the same time, the
democratic opposition of Moldova was almost annihilated and
by 2000 the Communist Party was brought back to power. Once
again in charge, the communists launched a policy of gradual
return to the old system. The process of privatization began
to be reversed, the free media began to be harassed, and the
new authorities started to persecute the pro-Western
democratic opposition
It is worth noting that during the 1990's Moscow approached
Romania alluding to the possibility of allowing the
reunification of Moldova with Romania. But Moscow warned the
government in Bucharest to avoid membership in the NATO and
not to trust the Americans because they would betray Romania.
Given their historic experience, few Romanians paid any
attention. The country opted clearly and firmly for Euro-
Atlantic integration. While joining NATO and siding with the
United States in Afghanistan and Iraq, Romania has also tried
to promote good relations with Russia. This policy has not
pleased Moscow.
It appears that the disintegration of Moldova has been one
of the Kremlin's responses to the enlargement of NATO. Thus,
acting in collusion with the leaders of Tiraspol and in
agreement with the new communist government in Chisinau,
Moscow endorsed the idea of reorganizing Moldova as a
federation. Allegedly, the purpose is to solve the Trans
Dnestr conflict and to secure the territorial integrity of
the republic. Consequently, the plan of federalization is
being advanced in spite of violating the provisions of the
very constitution of the state. Accordingly, the new federal
organs are supposed to be in place by early 2005. Strangely,
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) chaired in 2003 by an American ambassador, concurred
initially with this dubious project. The project only
advances the geopolitical goals of expansionist circles in
Moscow and the murky interests of the leaders in Tiraspol.
Moscow has not only tolerated those leaders, it is actually
helping them to hold the area as a Russian bridgehead against
the West.
A December 4, 2003 editorial of ``The Washington Post''
reveals that the United States has understood the true nature
of Russia's policies in Moldova and Georgia. And for the
first time an American administration has taken a firm stand.
The editorial emphasizes that Moscow has never fully accepted
the independence of Moldova, ``a desperately poor country
that for more than a decade has lived with a separatist
splinter, Trans-Dnestr, that is controlled by an ethnic
Russian criminal mafia backed by Russian troops and arms.''
What Mr. Putin wants, the editorial continues, is ``to make
Moldova a neutral state, to disband its armed forces, and to
give Moscow a veto over its government.'' The editorial adds:
``the American administration is taking steps to thwart
Moscow's neo-imperialism.''
The situation is somewhat similar in Georgia. The United
States is firmly against the disintegration of the two
republics. Nevertheless, while the Caucasian Republic of
Georgia needs every form of support to strengthen its
independence, we strongly believe that the only sound
resolution for Moldova is to return it to Romania.
In summary:
The Republic of Moldova is a Romanian land transformed
arbitrarily by Moscow into an artificial independent entity.
It has never been a separate state throughout its entire
history and its very existence is an open invitation to
geopolitical instability. It only
[[Page E456]]
promotes Russia's expansionism, even to the detriment of
democracy and the welfare of the very Russian people. It
is by design directed against the stability of Europe and
it represents an insult to the Romanian nation. And, last
but not least, in the future, its continuous existence
will mar the good relations between the United States and
Romania, thus hurting America's interests.
We, responsible and loyal American citizens of Romanian
descent, are aware of the risky consequences of modifying
borders. We are aware of America's limitations and of
Russia's reluctance. But we also believe in America, we
believe injustice, and we believe in redress. With good will,
wisdom, and an open mind, the problem could be properly
addressed. Thus, we recommend that the United States start
considering the reunification of this land with Romania where
it belongs. Such an approach would avoid further
complications and undesirable consequences. To this end we
are ready to lend our full and unconditional support.
Nicholas Dima, PhD
Retired professor
JF Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, Fort Bragg,
NC
US Naval War College, Newport, RI
____________________