The Moldovan citizens are not nostalgic for the Soviet Union, but they are victims of propaganda, considers Valentin Dolganiuc, a member of Moldova’s first Parliament. In a public debate staged by IPN, he said that education, the media and the church are Russia’s key means of propaganda. Education plays an important role in changing collective mentality.
“You will not find any word about the imperial intervention against Finland in our contemporary history textbooks. Nothing is said about the occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bucovina, the separation of these territories from the Romanian space, the deportations of 1949. It is only said that Kulaks and wealthy people were deported because they opposed the creation of kolkhozes,” explained Valentin Dolganiuc.
He noted that the transmission of Russian TV channels in Moldova should be banned as they are another instrument used on Moldova’s territory. “Tanks do not need to be sent here as the televisions here distribute this Russian propaganda nonstop. Ukraine banned Russian televisions, but we continue to promote them. Why? The Russian language is used as an instrument of Russian propaganda and of the Russian presence in this territory,” said Dolganiuc.
According to him, the Russian church that acclaims Putin and blesses tanks and rockets that are used to kill the peaceful population of Ukraine is the third propaganda instrument.
Valentin Dolganiuc said the Moldovans are not nostalgic for the Soviet Union. They rather allow to be manipulated by the Russian propaganda. “I cannot speak about nostalgia today, in 30 years of the disappearance of the Soviet Union. For example, I don’t see nostalgia existing at the basis of the decision to restore the Soviet Union as those who should have such nostalgia are mostly no longer alive. We see these wishes, not yet nostalgia, of the young people who were born in 1990 or in 1995, who cannot yet explain anything when they are asked what they know about the USSR. The support enjoyed by Vladimir Putin in the Republic of Moldova is the result of the Russian propaganda in our space,” stated Valentin Dolganiuc.
He noted that he anticipated Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The energy crisis was the pre-phase of the war. Europe was occupied in terms of energy. Germany, France and Italy took sides with Putin at the first stage of the war, but the Americans changed the situation, insisting that such developments can no longer be tolerated in Europe. There is only one phase of the war – the occupation of Europe.
According to Dolganiuc, the population of Russia is united by the Russian language, not by the majority Russian ethnic group. “Russia is not nationalist and never has been like this. If Russia hadn’t had a nuclear weapon today, this war would have been over. The nuclear war is the top issue. I consider the problems in the world will not end as long as this empire exists.”
The public debate entitled “Evolution of Russo-Ukrainian war and its influence on the phenomenon of nostalgia for the USSR” was the ninth installment of IPN’s project “100 years of USSR and 31 years without USSR: Nostalgia for Chimeras”, which is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
