“Moldova and Russia will always be together in spirit, because the legacy of author Ion Druta has become a value which represents the object of a sincere pride spanning from Moscow to Vladivostok”, said Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin in his congratulation speech dedicated to the 80th birthday of the writer and voiced on Friday at Druta's anniversary soiree at the National Palace. According to Vladimir Voronin, Ion Druta “is a master of the word who discovers unknown forces in peoples, opens their eyes on the past and the future, transforming the mosaic of some cultures into what we call today the human civilization”. “The unification of the Republic of Moldova will be expedited thanks to the fact that many admirers of Druta's oeuvre live on both sides of the Nistru, and this is much more important than any political project. Likewise Moldova will enter the EU owing to Ion Druta's work, which connects spirits and peoples into a single culture”, said the president. “The Moldovan people is alive because we are lucky to have a man who has seen what's beyond the horizon, who has had the capacity to inspire hope for a better life, who has employed his love of country to offer the people the chance of a second breath”, added Voronin. For his part, Ion Druta declared his allegiance to the reader, asserting he is neither an ally of Russia nor of Romania. “No one will ever be able to demonstrate that I am anti-Soviet or anti-Romanian, and the only right thing to do is to prove that we are what God mad us, to love this nation and to work in order to leave something behind to the generations to come”, said the author. In loud applause, Ion Druta received the 2008 State Prize, along with the diploma, the insignia and the medal confirming this title. Earlier this week, Ion Druta was paid homage by the scientific community as well. “Throughout their tumultuous history, the Moldovans have had four great narrators – Ion Neculce, Ion Creanga, Mihail Sadoveanu and Ion Druta”, said Romanian literary researcher Theodor Codreanu at the scientific symposium themed “Ion Druta – Humanism and Contemporaneity”. The Moldovan writer Ion Druta, living in Moscow since the 60s, is the honorary president of the Moldovan Writers Union, holds the title Writer of the People, two state awards (1967, 2008), is a honorary member of the Romanian Academy (1990) and a member of the Moldovan Academy (1992), holds the Creativity Prize awarded by the International Copyright Association (2008). He writes in different genres, but it is drama which brought him international fame. His plays are staged by over 500 theaters in the world.