“We had high hopes, but did not obtain much,” said Chisinau resident Valentin Ciobanu, who guarded the national radio and television and central telegraph together with thousands of co-nationals during the Moscow putsch as volunteer, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The days of August 19, 20 and 21, 1991 changed the fate of hundreds of people, including of the Moldovan one,” Valentin Ciobanu said. “The Soviet troops (the soldiers were from Russia and Soviet Central Asian republics) surrounded Chisinau from all parts. The volunteers tried to put up barricades on the outskirts so as to stop the Russian tanks,” he said. Valentin Ciobanu said that though the people were enthused by the events taking place in Moscow, they did not openly state their opinions and behaved peacefully. “I think the people were afraid, but we were sure that the USSR will soon fall apart,” he said. He also said that a part of the Soviet troops were dispatched to Czechoslovakia in 1968 and he anticipated what those actions could end with. “Though Moldova also declared its independence soon afterward, now I can say that our expectations were greater. We do not have real democracy,” said Valentin Ciobanu. “If we had banned the Communist Party as in Czechoslovakia and other countries, we wouldn't have stagnated for eight years. In the 1990s, we were much more united and could achieve more results then.” According to Ciobanu, the young people nowadays pursue other goals – to find a job with a decent salary and have better living conditions. The national values are not the focus of attention. But Valentin Ciobanu considers that Moldova still has chances to become prosperous and he has high hopes of the referendum and the legislative elections. As 19 years ago, Valentin Ciobanu works at the tobacco factory in Chisinau and is ready to join the volunteers that will struggle to defend the real democratic values. On August 19, it is 19 years of the Moscow putsch that led to the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It was an attempt by a group of members of the Soviet Union's Government to take control of the country from Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.