The Soviet Union became a totalitarian state and wanted to conquer the whole world, to create the World Soviet Republic and this was dangerous. There were things that could not be overlooked, especially because the states in Central and Eastern Europe were all communized by force, the permanent expert of IPN’s project Igor Boțan stated in a public debate centering on NATO.

“We should not forget about the work of the Comintern and about the anthem that was adopted at the sixth congress of the Comintern, if I’m not wrong. The goal was to build the World Soviet Republic. So, very clear goals were announced. No other power in the world ever set the goal of conquering the whole world,” said Igor Boțan, noting that something like this could not be accepted as the Soviet Union already became a totalitarian state and the whole international community saw the practices used by the Soviet Union, by Comintern. The Comintern adopted a decision saying that Socialist, Social-Democratic parties in Europe were actually social-fascist parties.

Igor Boțan explained why Moldovan society doesn’t know or doesn’t fully understand how things stand. “Public opinion has very great inertia. We should not forget that the Republic of Moldova is the successor of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. Within the Soviet Union, the citizens were subject to a propaganda wave. There was a bipolar word where the good was on the side of the Soviet Union, which was to implement the Communist idea and make the people happy, while the evil was the West, the United States that represented the reactionary forces and opposed that communization of the world,” said Igor Boțan, noting the propaganda left deep roots in the mentality, but things already change.

The expert noted the opinion polls, after 32 years of independence, show that things develop. “During the first 20 years of independence, we had about 20-25% of the citizens who were in favor of NATO. Figures now started to rise slowly and come close to 30%. It is slow progress, but we must admit that things change, especially under the influence of the events that happen in our immediate neighborhood – Russia’s aggression and the projects Russia promotes and does not hide this fact,” said Igor Boțan, noting propaganda openly says that Russia is a breathing empire, which contacted itself after the dismemberment of the Soviet Union and now expands again and claims territories.

He also said that neutral countries like Sweden and Finland renounced their neutrality in the face of threats and the citizens surely see this and realize that NATO is a defense, security organization.

The public debate entitled “NATO: History without propaganda” was the 19th installment of IPN’s project “Impact of the Past on Confidence and Peace Building Processes” which is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.