Veterans of Romanian and Soviet Armies congratulated by City Hall officials separately

About 50 elderly persons that formed part of the Romanian Army and 80 persons that were members of the Soviet Army during the Second World War visited the Chisinau City Hall on Thursday, May 7. The City Hall officials met them separately, offering them by 500 lei on the occasion of the 64th anniversary of the end of the war, Info-Prim Neo reports. The two meetings were held in different languages, in Romanian and Russian. The Soviet Army veterans criticized the activity of the local public administration, while the other veterans praised the administration for their efforts. Ion Mahu, president of the Association of Soviet Army War Veterans, expressed his satisfaction with the fact that he and his army comrades have been offered the same rights as the Soviet Army veterans. “Earlier, we received a minimum sum that was 5-6 times lower than that offered to the Soviet veterans, but now we have equal rights,” Ion Mahu said. “May 9 is a great holiday because on this day we understood that we were lucky as we remained alive. Since then, we did not stop our compatriotic activities,” said Igor Burca, the Association’s secretary general. He recited a poem dedicated to May 9. Eugen Semeniuc, veteran of the Romanian army, said that though he lived under Communist regime he has never changes his view about the country for which he fought. “But the present Communism is harsher.” Speaking about the political situation in the country, he expressed his confidence that the three parties (the PL, PLDM and AMN – e.n.) will ultimately win and they will never give the lacking ‘golden vote’. But the veterans that fought as part of the Soviet army had a different opinion. They extolled the ideology of Vladimir Lenin, describing it as “great” and condemned the periods of capitalism, “when nobody knew what to do.” Mihail Prosvirinii, vice president of the Association of Soviet Army Veterans, said that Chisinau will never follow Basescu, while Moldova will never form part of Romania, naming his army colleagues “fellows”. The Associations’ president and former municipal councilor on behalf of the Communist Party Valeriu Garev thanked the City Hall for the support, but criticized the local authorities, saying they should make effort to repair the roads and maintain the stairs in apartment buildings and pay special attention to the ecological situation in the city. Deputy mayor Nistor Grozavu congratulated all the veterans on the even and said that the district heads’ offices of Chisinau will organize feasts for them.