The population is now witnessing the third stage of the dismemberment of the Soviet Union because Russia’s war in Ukraine is nothing else but the prolongation of the story, political pundit Igor Boțan stated in IPN’s public debate “USSR: Born and Destroyed by Putsches”.

According to the permanent expert of IPN’s project, the solution for the “putsch era” to never return to the Republic of Moldova is categorically Ukraine’s victory in the war, with the international community’s support. This way, the “durable state of Putin” will be not a long-term ring, but the last point in this imperial evolution and imperial pretentions of Russia.

Igor Boțan noted that the Perestroika launched by Gorbachev was a prelude to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The resolution on the democratization of Soviet society, which was announced at the 19th Conference of the CPSU, was the starting point of the dissolution and this resolution should be considered when examining what followed: national renaissance movements, people’s fronts, etc. Misunderstandings between the republican centers and Moscow appeared together with the national renaissance.

The central administration had to gradually make concessions and a referendum on the keeping of the Soviet Union was agreed. Discussions were ultimately held on a new union treaty, but only nine of the 15 Soviet republics agreed to sign this. The so-called “sovereignty parade” started after the Russian Federation on June 12, 1990 proclaimed its sovereignty. The treaty was to be signed by the nine republics on August 20, 1991 and the putschists decided to thwart the process.

The Moldovan political class and society reacted generally negatively to this initiative. “Even if after the elections of February-March 1990, 90% of the members of the first Parliament of the Republic of Moldova were Communists, one third of the MPs represented the national renaissance movement, one third – the inter-front and one third represented the agrarian managers, supporting the general direction of first one third, even if very prudently. This was the basis for declaring the Independence and laid the basis of reforms in the Republic of Moldova,” stated the expert, noting that while the national renaissance movement was being strengthened in Chisinau, the villages remained asleep and many of them later voted for the return of the Communists to power.

Igor Boțan said the whole society expected that things will improve after the declaring of Independence, but the economic relations were destroyed, the uprising in Transnistria was instigated and 40% of Moldova’s economy that was in Transnistria was torn away. The authorities however behaved rather correctly. Practically all the governments, with small exceptions, stipulated the European integration in their political programs. The events after the putsch followed a logic that cannot be ignored.

The public debate entitled “USSR: Born and Destroyed by Putsches” was the 16th installment of IPN’s project “Impact of the Past on Confidence and Peace Building Processes” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.