The Anno 1812 initiative group became a civic movement and about 1200 people joined it: historians, journalists, writers and other public figures. The constituting assembly took place on Saturday, June 25. Ion Negrei, deputy chairman of the Historians’ Association, was elected leader of the new movement, Info-Prim Neo reports. The Coordinating Council of Anno 1812 movement will have 20 members. Nicolae Dabija, chief editor of Literatura si Arta, Valeriu Saharneanu, parliamentarian, and Constantin Tanase, director of Timpul de dimineata newspaper, were voted deputy chairmen of the new movement. Ion Negrei announced that Anno 1812 would organize a series of national and international conferences to mark 200 years since Basarabia was transformed into a Russian province. Historians and scholars from other countries will be invited. Several books and other materials will be published in order to reveal the truth about the year 1812. “Moldova’s current problems have a long history and their roots are back in 1812. It’s about the national entity of Moldova as a country, about people’s identity crisis, interethnic relationships and our European destiny”, said Ion Negrei. “The civic movement wants to embrace the whole Moldova, to make the people, unhappy with the 20 years of independence, think and understand”, declared Alexandru Mosanu, habilitated doctor of History. According to him, the poverty and sufferings are the consequences of several factors, including the lack of historical knowledge. “What kind of historical culture can we speak about, when the Romanians from the eastern side of the country were separated from the rest of the nation, from the Romanian cultural space and values. Dividing Moldovan Romanians was a crime of Imperial Russia”, he stressed. Mosanu, the first Speaker of Moldova, thinks the country is still under Russian domination, despite its independence. The Anno 1812 initiative group was created in May.