Romanian and Soviet army veterans will receive identical medals

The World War II veterans who formed part of the Romanian and Soviet armies will be awarded the medal “Second World War Commemorative Cross”. The decision was adopted by the vote of the ruling coalition at Friday's sitting of the Parliament. The Communists rejected the proposal, saying the Romanian army veterans should not be decorated, Info-Prim Neo reports. “We are against awarding the persons who started the war with the Romanians, but ended it together with the Russians,” said Communist MP Iurie Stoikov. “The move is aimed at reconciling the veterans of the two armies. We neither started, nor ended the war. We should bring this discrimination to and end,” said Head of Parliament Mihai Ghimpu, the leader of the Liberal Party. Another Communist MP Eduard Musuc said the medal looks like the fascist cross and it will be “a real bomb on May 9.” Democrat MP Oleg Serebrian stressed the disputes in the Parliament are useful. “A spirit of reconciliation dominates in Europe. Commemorative medals were awarded in Italy to those who fought for the Nazi Germany. We should leave the cheap speculations aside,” Serebrian said. Under the adopted bill, the Second World War Commemorative Cross will be given to military men and civilians who took part in battles, to the veterans who worked behind the battle fronts, to former detainees of concentration camps, ghettos and other detention places created by the fascists. The medal was approved by the National Heraldic Commission under the President of Moldova. The medal is similar to the First World War Commemorative Cross. It represents a greyish cross with rhomboidal extremities accompanied by a black and white ribbon representing the two mourning colors – contemporary, Western black and traditional, national white.