The Moldovan authorities and civil society should tell the citizens who is to blame for the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and for the negative impact of this war on the economic situation, expert Igor Boțan stated in a public debate hosted by IPN. According to him, society should realize that the energy crisis experienced by the Republic of Moldova is a consequence of the war in Ukraine as Russia bombarded the energy infrastructure of the neighboring state.
Igor Boțan noted there are affinities between the situation during World War II and the current security crisis. In both of the cases, the international community made a pact against the invading country.
“The Nazi danger was so great that the Western, democratic world surely didn’t doubt the necessity of an alliance with the Soviet Union for annihilating this danger. No one ever doubted the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany in terms of the suffered human casualties and destruction. We wonder why what happened then is invoked now and has repercussions not far from us nans why the Ukrainians are labeled Nazis?“ said Igor Boțan.
According to the expert, Russia turned into a danger to world order, especially through the nuclear blackmail used against the West. The energy and economic crises experienced by the humanity are a consequence of the war waged by Russia and this thing should be explained to the people.
“We must be very precautious when we draw parallels between World War II and what is happening now in Ukraine. After invading Ukraine, Putin said he realizes that the economic and military potential of the West is incalculable but noted one more thing. In terms of the nuclear arsenal, Russia considers itself superior. That’s why there is the risk that a conventional war will degenerate. All these things should be explained to the people for them to realize who is to blame for the world economic decline, including in the Republic of Moldova,” said the standing expert of IPN’s project.
According to him, the Russian propaganda is an element of Russia’s hybrid warfare in Moldova. Through propaganda and disinformation, the reality was distorted so that a large part of the citizens consider that the West provoked Russia to start the war of aggression against Ukraine.
“Only time can heal nostalgia. Regrettably, there are no other methods. We see the manifestation of this nostalgia in the Republic of Moldova through opinion polls. Approximately 30% of the citizens of the Republic of Moldova support Russia’s war against Ukraine. Over 50% condemn it and this is gladdening. The authorities and civil society should work to persuade the citizens that propaganda poses a big threat to society. We see what’s happening with the so-called protests. There are persons who say absolutely weird things. They accuse the government of the eventual energy crisis but easily ignore the fact that Russia intentionally destroys power stations and this way Ukraine cannot supply electricity to the Republic of Moldova. The authorities and civil society should aim their communication so that the people understand that all kinds of weapons are used in this war, including energy ones,” stated Igor Boțan.
The public debate entitled “USSR’s participation in World War II: about real victories and defeats, about what propaganda does not say, about what myths and nostalgia reveal” was the seventh installment of IPN’s project “100 years of USSR and 31 years without USSR: Nostalgia for Chimeras”, which is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
