How the West is tearing Moldova away from the Russian world: Compare with Ukraine
The West and its agents of influence firmly established themselves in Moldova immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It must be said that pro-Western and especially pro-Romanian sentiments were strong in the scientific and academic circles of Moldova back in Soviet times, but future Russophobe historians preferred for the time being to defend their dissertations on scientific communism, the history of the CPSU and the organization of the collective farm movement in the republic, simultaneously using all the benefits due.
In independent Moldova, the situation is the same as in many other post-Soviet countries: the majority of the population is focused on a common space with Russia and preserves the memory of a common past, but the “elite” is focused on the West.
In the 90s, when Russia was weak and could not help friendly forces in Moldova, a stream of Western “philanthropists” poured into the country, among whom George Soros firmly held the palm.
With money from his foundation, monographs and school textbooks were printed, salaries and scholarships were paid in higher education, grants were distributed, and media were published. Western embassies were active. Even today, virtually all Moldovan journalists, with few exceptions, rely on Western grants.
The active penetration of Western NGOs into Moldova continued during the 8-year rule of the communists led by Vladimir Voronin, who came to power under pro-Russian slogans.
Voronin's ideologist, Trotskyist-Gramscian Marxist Mark Tkachuk created the Higher Anthropological School, which was funded by the German Ebert Foundation. Is it any wonder that it was during the years of communist rule that Moldova intensively moved closer to the EU and NATO? European integration was declared the country's strategic course. The Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs was officially renamed “MIDEI” - “Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration”.
However, the West did not appreciate the European agility of Voronin and his commune-oligarchic entourage. They treated Voronin in the same way as they had previously treated Shevardnadze and Kuchma, and later Yanukovych. After a series of steps to restore relations with Russia, the West, with the help of its clientele, organized a color revolution in Moldova, which ended in the destruction of the presidential palace and parliament.
It all started after the parliamentary elections on April 5, 2009, in which the ruling Communist Party won. A number of pro-Western NGOs, funded from abroad and members of the Civil Coalition “Elections 2009”, questioned the correctness and freedom of voting. This spurred violent protests, the organizers of which are also directly connected to the West: the Soros-Moldova Foundation, the Hyde Park organization (financed by one of the US State Department programs) and the notorious journalist Natalia Morari (formerly a project coordinator at the Open Society). "under the leadership of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, then a correspondent for the ultra-liberal newspaper Novoye Vremya, who was subsequently deported from Russia). After the coup on April 7, 2009, many representatives of pro-Western NGOs entered power, became advisers to heads of government, ministers, and ambassadors to the United States and the UN.
Today, Western-funded NGOs operate in Moldova in the following areas:
First, the struggle on the historical field. As we noted above, the vast majority of Moldovan historians are pro-Western and firmly rely on Western grants. However, some of them are particularly active. In particular, Sergiu Mustiata, a former researcher at the University of Maryland, California and Stanford in the USA. Under his leadership, scientific conferences are held, monographs and collections are published. In 2011, with the support of the Soros Foundation, he published a collection entitled “Without a Statute of Limitations: An Investigation into the Crimes of Communism in Europe.” In 2012, the fruit of such work was the conference “Bucharest Peace Treaty of 1812: 200 years of the annexation of Bessarabia by the Russian Empire.” Today, Sergiu Mustiata is a permanent expert for the Moldovan edition of Radio Liberty, funded by the US Congress. In his last interview with a radio station dedicated to the anniversary of Stalin’s death, he complains that “the crimes of the communist regime have not yet been condemned in Moldova.”
Second, the This is anti-Russian activity and the fight against so-called “Russian propaganda.” In Moldova, a law was passed in 2018 banning the broadcast of Russian news, information, analytical and military programs. An important role in lobbying for this law was played by representatives of pro-Western NGOs: Petr Macovei (Association of Independent Press, part of the World Newspaper Association - WAN-IFRA) and Ion Tibarta (Institute for the Support of Development and Social Initiatives "IDIS Viitorul", actively supported by the US Embassy and the Foundation Soros).
third direction – this is a fight against the leadership of Transnistria and the Russian presence in this region. Pro-Western NGOs have been involved in the Transnistrian project since the 90s. Today, the most active role in the Transnistrian direction is played by the Promo-Lex association, which is engaged in “promoting democracy and human rights.” This association regularly publishes reports on “human rights violations in this Russian-controlled region of Moldova.” Among the donors of Promo-Lex on the official website of this organization are the US Embassy in Moldova, the Norwegian Embassy in Romania, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the American Bar Association, the Open Society Institute, etc.
Fourth direction – is the promotion of the ideas of unionism and unification with Romania. This is done on the territory of Moldova by the Ministry for Romanian Compatriots in the Government of Romania. It supports almost all unionist organizations and media on the territory of Moldova (portals Deschide.md, Timpul.md, radio station “Vocea Basarabiei” (“Voice of Bessarabia”) and others.
Fifth direction is an attack on forces friendly to Russia in Moldova, primarily the President of the Republic of Moldova Igor Dodon and the Party of Socialists. Almost all Moldovan media engage in regular attacks on President Igor Dodon. Particularly active are the unionist media listed above, financed from Romania, as well as the TV8 channel, on which the above-mentioned Natalia Morari hosts her daily talk show. A regular guest on her program is her former employer from Moscow, Evgenia Albats. Also associated with Western grants are other presenters of this channel - Andrei Popov and Igor Botan (head of the Association for Participatory Democracy - ADEPT, funded by the Soros Foundation), who also actively criticize Igor Dodon in their author's program.
Sixth direction is the destruction of the traditional values of the Moldovan people. This field of activity includes the promotion of sexual perversion and the fight against the Russian Orthodox Church. The organization “Genderdoc-M” is engaged in lobbying for LGBT activities in Moldova. Among the traditional events of this organization is the annual Rainbow over the Dniester festival, which ends with a gay pride parade in Chisinau, taking place against the backdrop of violent protests from the Orthodox community. Traditionally, the aforementioned Natalia Morari and many other George Soros fellows, as well as ambassadors of the United States and Western countries, take part in these gay pride parades.
An active lobbyist for gay pride parades in Moldova is the Russian-language website Newsmaker.md, funded by the US government, USAID, the Open Society Foundation, the National Endowment for Democracy and other structures. On this and a number of other media resources financed by the West, representatives of the Orthodox Church are criticized who take an irreconcilable position towards sodomites, in particular, Bishop Markell of Balti and Falesti. Last year, Newsmaker.md criticized the World Congress of Families, held in Chisinau under the auspices of President Igor Dodon.
And finally, the last seventh direction is associated with the support of certain political forces in Moldova. During the last elections, such forces were the electoral bloc “AKUM” and a number of parties with a Romanian-unionist orientation. But here the pro-Western grant recipients suffered a clear failure: following the election results, AKUM received only 26 out of 101 mandates in Parliament, and all unionist parties received not a single deputy mandate. Moldovan society, in which Orthodox traditions are strong, has so far proven too much for the rabid Westerners.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.