[Info-Prim Neo story from the “Moldova-20! Whereto?” Series] In Moscow, Russian officials saw Moldova’s independence as a temporary metaphor and this approach is still in place, according to political pundit Anatol Taranu, Moldova’s former ambassador to Russia. “Russian Federation officials regarded Moldova as a former soviet republic and treated it as a country with limited sovereignty. Many dignitaries in Moscow considered Moldova’s independence a temporary metaphor, thinking that everything would come back to “normal”. Things change in time but this approach is still standing, and this explains the attempt to treat the former soviet space as a preferential zone of influence for Russia, and all the implications of this fact”, said Taranu. According toTaranu, this region is indeed under Moscow’s influence even though many of the world powers don’t admit it. In many cases, Moldova is treated according to this formal principle and any Moldovan politician who ignores it, makes a mistake. Anatol Taranu added that Moldova’s inefficient policies maintained the situation and Chisinau remains under Russian influence, which is nevertheless steadily decreasing. Taranu said that being ambassador to Russia was a very responsible and difficult mission. “In any other capital of the world, it’s a natural thing to be a true representative of your country’s interest. In Moscow it’s difficult to do it and we had ambassadors who didn’t promote Moldova’s interests, but conformed to the tendencies dictated by Moscow officials. Our diplomats preferred to submit to Russian authorities to the detriment of our national interests and, unfortunately there were many of them”, said the former ambassador. Anatol Taranu was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and member of the first Parliament of Moldova. During 1993-1994, he was Moldova’s Ambassador to Russia after replacing the first delegated Moldovan diplomat there, Petru Lucinschi.