American_Literature (2369) British_Literature_New (3049) British_Literature_Old (847) Children (1715) Cooking (70) Fine_Art_And_Music (307) Games (60) History (2035) Music (328) Philosophy (154) Reference (19) Religion (1013) Science (625) Social (537) Travel (164) Victoriana (134) World_Literature (2781) World_Reference (1225)

MOLDOVA country studies Federal Research Division Library of Congress Edited by Helen Fedor Research Completed June 1995 *********** Foreward This volume is one in a continuing series of books prepared by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress under the Country Studies/Area Handbook Program sponsored by the Department of the Army. The last two pages of this book list the other published studies. Most books in the series deal with a particular foreign country, describing and analyzing its political, economic, social, and national security systems and institutions, and examining the interrelationships of those systems and the ways they are shaped by cultural factors. The authors seek to provide a basic understanding of the observed society, striving for a dynamic rather than a static portrayal. Particular attention is devoted to the people who make up the society, their origins, dominant beliefs and values, their common interests and the issues on which they are divided, the nature and extent of their involvement with national institutions, and their attitudes toward each other and toward their social system and political order. The books represent the analysis of the authors and should not be construed as an expression of an official United States government position, policy, or decision. The authors have sought to adhere to accepted standards of scholarly objectivity. Corrections, additions, and suggestions for changes from readers will be welcomed for use in future editions. Louis R. Mortimer Chief Federal Research Division Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 20540-5220 Data as of June 1995 ************* Acknowledgments The authors are indebted to numerous individuals and organizations who gave their time, research materials, and expertise on affairs in Belarus and Moldova to provide data, perspective, and material support for this volume. The collection of accurate and current information was assisted greatly by the contributions of Dr. Stephen Burant of the United States Department of State, Professor Thomas E. Bird of Queens College, Valery Kurdzyukou of the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus, A. James Firth of the United States Department of Agriculture, John Mumford of The Washington Group, Eugene Fishel of the United States Department of State, Professor Paul E. Michelson of Huntington College, Professor Ernest H. Latham, Jr., of the American-Romanian Academy, Raymond Milefsky of the Defense Mapping Agency, and Iurie Leanca of the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova. The authors also acknowledge the generosity of all the individuals who allowed their photographs to be used in this study. Thanks also go to Ralph K. Benesch, who oversees the Country Studies/Area Handbook Program for the Department of the Army. In addition, the authors appreciate the advice and guidance of Sandra W. Meditz, Federal Research Division coordinator of the handbook series. Special thanks go to Marilyn L. Majeska, who supervised editing; Andrea T. Merrill, who performed the prepublication editorial review and managed production; David P. Cabitto, who designed the book cover and the illustrations on the title page of both chapters, provided graphics support, and, together with Thomas D. Hall, prepared the maps; Ihor Y. Gawdiak, who provided historical background information; and Glenn E. Curtis, who critiqued the text. The following individuals are gratefully acknowledged as well: Vincent Ercolano and Janet Willen, who edited the chapters; Barbara Edgerton and Izella Watson, who did the word processing; Francine Cronshaw, who compiled the index; and Stephen C. Cranton, David P. Cabitto, and Janie L. Gilchrist, who prepared the camera-ready copy. ********** Table of Contents Please note: The current Country Study was previously in a multi-country volume. Chapter numbers reflect those used in the printed book. * MOLDOVA * Foreward * Acknowledgments * Preface * Introduction * Chapter 2. Moldova o Chronology of Important Events o COUNTRY PROFILE * COUNTRY * GEOGRAPHY * SOCIETY * ECONOMY * TRANSPORTATION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS * GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS * NATIONAL SECURITY o HISTORICAL BACKGROUND * Early History * The Beginning of the Soviet Period * World War II * Postwar Reestablishment of Soviet Control * Increasing Political Self-Expression * Secession of Gagauzia and Transnistria * Independence * Progress Toward Political Accommodation o PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT * Topography and Drainage * Climate * Environmental Concerns o POPULATION AND ETHNIC COMPOSITION * Population Characteristics * Ethnic Composition o LANGUAGE, RELIGION, AND CULTURE * Language * Religion * Culture o EDUCATION, HEALTH, AND WELFARE * Education * Health * Welfare * Housing o THE ECONOMY * The Economy in the Soviet Period * Postindependence Privatization and Other Reforms * Labor Force * Agriculture * Industry * Energy and Fuels * Banking and Finance * Transportation and Telecommunications * Foreign Trade o GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS * Governmental System * Parliament * The Presidency * Council of Ministers * The Judicial System * Local Government * Political Parties * The 1990 Elections * Political Developments in the Wake of the 1990 Elections * Conflict in Transnistria and Gagauzia * Easing of Tensions * Political Realignment * The 1994 Elections and Afterwards * Human Rights * The Media o FOREIGN RELATIONS * Commonwealth of Independent States * Romania * Russia * Ukraine * Turkey * The West o NATIONAL SECURITY * The Armed Forces * Internal Security * Crime * Appendices o Appendix A. Tables o Appendix B. The Minsk Agreement o Appendix C. The ALMA-ATA Declaration o Appendix D. Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Moldova * Bibliography * Glossary ****************** Preface At the end of 1991, the formal liquidation of the Soviet Union was the surprisingly swift result of partially hidden decrepitude and centrifugal forces within that empire. Of the fifteen "new" states that emerged from the process, many had been independent political entities at some time in the past. Aside from their coverage in the 1991 Soviet Union: A Country Study, none had received individual treatment in this series, however. Belarus and Moldova: Country Studies is the second in a new subseries describing the fifteen post-Soviet republics, both as they existed before and during the Soviet era and as they have developed since 1991. This volume covers Belarus and Moldova, two nations on the western border of what was once the Soviet Union. The marked relaxation of information restrictions, which began in the late 1980s and accelerated after 1991, allows the reporting of extensive data on every aspect of life in the two countries. Scholarly articles and periodical reports have been especially helpful in accounting for the years of independence in the 1990s. The authors have described the historical, political, and social backgrounds of the countries as the background for their current portraits. However, in general, both Belarus and Moldova (especially the former) have been written about to a lesser extent than other former Soviet republics. In each case, the authors' goal in this book was to provide a compact, accessible, and objective treatment of five main topics: historical setting, the society and its environment, the economy, government and politics, and national security. In the case of Belarus, providing a definitive spelling of a personal name or place-name has been a challenge. All names have been transliterated according to the transliteration schemes devised by the United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN); which is widely used by the United States government, although not by the Library of Congress or in most scholarly works. According to the BGN system, most Cyrillic letters are transliterated similarly from both Belarusian and Russian. But some letters are transliterated from the two languages differently (for example, "e," which remains "e" in transliterated Russian but becomes "ye" in transliterated Belarusian), and some letters exist in Belarusian but not in Russian. Because Belarusian names often differ from the Russian versions that have been used predominantly by the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the world in general, the Russian version is given in parentheses at the first occurrence of a name. Otherwise, the Belarusian names have been used throughout. The few exceptions to this are well-known names (Moscow) and words (perestroika) that have acquired a standardized spelling in English usage. Another problem in writing about Belarus is what to call it and when. In its early history, the region was known as "Belaya Rus'," "Belorussia," "White Ruthenia," or "White Rus'." (A number of explanations have been proffered for the term "white.") As if this were not confusing enough, the terms "Rus'" and "Russia" have often been confused, sometimes deliberately. The original Rus' was Kievan Rus', which existed for centuries before Muscovy (which would later become Russia) gained significance. Russia later claimed to be the sole successor to Kievan Rus' and often blurred the line between the two. In the Russian language, both "russkiy" and "rossiyskiy" mean "Russian." During the time when Belarus was part of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, it was commonly known as Belorussia, and the language was known as Belorussian. Occasionally, nationalist groups would form and take a name that included the word "Belarusian," but this use of the word was the exception. It was only after the Supreme Soviet declared the country independent that the name was changed from the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic to the Republic of Belarus, despite the title of the earlier Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. The policy in this volume has been to use "Belarus/Belarusian" in the earliest historical times; "Belorussia/Belorussian" while it was a part of either the Grand Duchy, Poland, the Russian Empire, or the Soviet Union; and "Belarus/Belarusian" after the country declared independence in August 1991. The exceptions are names in which "Belarus/Belarusian" was deliberately chosen over "Belorussia/Belorussian" by the groups themselves. For Moldova, the problem of personal names and place-names is somewhat different. When Moldovan, a dialect of Romanian written in the Latin alphabet, was designated the official language of Moldova in 1989, the Cyrillic alphabet (imposed by Joseph V. Stalin) was dropped, thus obviating the need for transliteration. However, the Moldovan names appearing in the text of this volume are missing most of the diacritics used by the language. In this case, it is a matter of lagging technology: the typesetting software being used simply cannot produce the necessary diacritics in the text (although they appear on the maps). For this the authors apologize and hope that by the time this country study is updated, missing diacritics will no longer be the norm. As was also the case with Belarus, Moldova and the Moldovans are referred to in different ways depending on the period of history. Until the creation of the Moldavian Autonomous Oblast (outside the traditional boundaries of Moldova) by Moscow in 1924, "Moldova" and "Moldovan" were the terms for the region and the language. From 1924 until the parliament changed the country's name officially in 1990, the terms used were "Moldavia" and "Moldavian." As with Belarus, the policy in this volume has been to adhere to these different names during their respective periods of usage, with the exceptions of names in which "Moldova/Moldovan" was deliberately chosen over "Moldavia/Moldavian" by the groups themselves. Measurements are given in the metric system; a conversion table is provided in Appendix A. A Chronology is provided at the beginning of each chapter. To amplify points in the text of the chapters, tables in Appendix A provide statistics on aspects of the societies and the economies of the countries. A Glossary provides information on certain terms in order to explain their background without creating distractions in the text. The Bibliography lists recently published sources thought to be particularly helpful to the reader. The body of the text reflects information available as of May 1995. Certain other portions of the text, however, have been updated. The Introduction discusses significant events and trends that have occurred since the completion of research; the Country Profiles include updated information as available; and the Bibliography lists recently published sources thought to be particularly helpful to the reader. ************* Introduction LOCATED ON THE WESTERN BORDERLANDS of the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union, the regions that would one day become the republics of Belarus and Moldova had long been part of a buffer zone used to protect Russia from Western influences and military forces. The imperial and Soviet governments attempted to fully integrate the two regions' economies into their own and to Russify their people in order to bind them seamlessly into the their respective empires. For a long time, these efforts seemed to work, but in 1991 Belarus and Moldova declared their independence from the Soviet Union and began to go their separate, post-Soviet ways. Independence was not a totally new experience for the two countries, however, each of which had existed briefly as a sovereign entity during the previous hundred years, but this time they had much to undo from the previous regime. The two countries, former republics of the now-defunct Soviet Union, are a study in contrasts. Belarus, mostly ethnic Belarusian (and overwhelmingly Slavic) in population, had long been part of the Russian Empire and subsequently the Soviet Union. The tsars, and later the commissars, sought to meld Belorussia with Russia and the Belorussians with the Russians. They succeeded to a remarkable extent: independent Belarus still identifies closely with Russia, and Belarusian nationalists are in the minority. Soviet-era political and economic structures, and even symbols, have been retained and even reintroduced, as was the case after the May 1995 referendum that brought back the Soviet-era flag and emblem (both slightly modified) and the Russian language. Moldova, a country that had also been part of both empires since the 19th century, has a majority population of ethnic Romanians, who are not Slavs. Despite Russian and Soviet efforts to Slavicize them, most ethnic Romanians were able to maintain their identity and looked to Romania as the source of their culture. When the Soviet Union began to crumble, Moldova asserted first its sovereignty and then its independence, although the population was far from unanimous on either. But the nationalists eventually carried the day, and Moldova sought to distance itself from Russia, despite the wishes of the Transnistrians, who in 1990 proclaimed the "Dnestr Moldavian Republic," with a pro-Soviet extralegal government, on the east bank of the Nistru River. The Transnistrians want no part of independent Moldova, its ethnic- Romanian nationalists, or a possible reunification with Romania, where they would be a small minority instead of a powerful political force. In both Belarus and Moldova, there are many who wish to return to the days of the Soviet Union for a variety of reasons, some economic, some nostalgic, and some fearful. In Belarus these conservatives (ethnic Belarusians as well as ethnic Russians) are in the majority and are to be found throughout the population and the government. Their domination is felt not only in the political arena but in the social sphere as well. In Moldova the conservatives (mainly, but not exclusively, ethnic Slavs) are located throughout society and the government, but their influence is not as overwhelming as in Belarus. Many of the Moldovan conservatives (although not all) live in Transnistria. Here, they believe, they are the keepers of the Soviet ideal from which a reconstituted Soviet Union will one day rise up again. However, time and the course of events have made it clear that they are trying to protect not a way of life but rather their own political and--especially--economic interests, which are often illegal (including sales of arms and illegal drugs). Both Belarus and Moldova have stated their wish to have free market economies, but they have proceeded in this direction at different paces. The economies of both countries had been firmly embedded in the Soviet economy, and each had specialized in a certain sector--Belarus in heavy agricultural equipment and goods for the military, and Moldova primarily in agricultural products and consumer goods--while relying on other republics for raw materials. Both republics had been especially dependent on Russia for inexpensive fuels, a fact that continued to haunt them after independence. Subsidized fuel, priced well below world prices, had made the goods produced by the two countries inexpensive and affordable by the other Soviet republics. With the loss of these cheap fuels, both countries were forced to either decrease their fuel consumption (and their output) or improve the efficiency of their industries. Belarus chose the former path, which coincided with the fact that it was selling fewer of its goods because of price and quality considerations, while Moldova tried, sometimes unsuccessfully, to take steps toward improved efficiency. Both countries initiated privatization, or the sale of state- owned property, and both were having a difficult time reconfiguring their economies. The Moldovan government was changing its laws to make them more compatible with a free market and more friendly toward foreign investment and business in general. However, vested interests sought to maintain the system or, at least, to make large profits during the transition. The Belarusian government decided that, despite its intention to sell state-owned property, it would leave the agricultural sector under state control. The government's reasoning was that Belarusian large-scale agriculture was best suited to the heavy agricultural equipment that the country continued to produce, despite the fact that fuel for this equipment was often scarce. Both Belarus and Moldova stated their intention of having democratic political systems, as did many former Soviet republics. However, making the change from a communist government to a real democracy proved difficult, not the least because of officials who wished to maintain the status quo. They viewed democracy as too chaotic and unstable, unlike the predictability that had characterized their previous political lives. They also saw it as risky and feared to lose the perquisites to which they had been entitled and which they wanted to retain. Belarus's attempts to become a western democracy often appeared likely to remain out of reach. Although the constitution added the office of the president and declared a separation of powers, government in Belarus often seemed no different from that of the Soviet era. Political apathy among the population remained so strong that a legislature could not be seated after two rounds of elections in 1995; corruption was still widespread despite the fact that the president had campaigned as an anticorruption candidate; and political leaders looked to Moscow for political, military, and financial support, with the president trying to lead the country back into some sort of union with Russia. Moldova kept its basic Soviet-era governmental structure, while adding a presidency, universal suffrage, and popular elections, as did Belarus. However, the country's first attempt at a democratically elected parliament showed the need for further modification of the system. The unwieldy size of the body and a hardline nationalist majority made legislative compromises among the various ethnic groups in Moldova impossible, and the result was gridlock. A smaller parliament and a larger number of moderates after the 1994 elections have made legislative progress possible despite the disagreements and factions that are still to be found. Despite the differences between the two countries, the focal point for those who wish to maintain each country's independence is the same--the national language, the same rallying point as in the revolutions of 1848, a series of republican revolts against Western and Central European monarchies. These revolts all failed in their immediate goals, but they eventually led to greater representation of ethnic groups in legislatures and to greater cultural autonomy, including the use of languages that, until then, had been dismissed by the authorities as peasant vernaculars. However, while nationalists in the last century sought to codify (and sometimes even form) a literary language, the task of the nationalists in 1991 was to revive that language and divest it of its Russian and Soviet accretions. To those who have never undergone forced cultural assimilation, the issue may seem trivial. What difference does it make what language is spoken or what it is called? To those who have had their use of language restricted, however, the matter goes beyond mere defiance. Language is the medium of the culture on which their daily lives and identities are based. To define what language can be spoken is to define the identity of not only the individual but also of the country. Moldovans kept Russian as a language of interethnic communication but subsequently entered a debate as to what their own language was to be called: was it Moldovan or Romanian? The president explained that the term "Moldovan" was used in the constitution for political reasons--to assuage the fears of those who feared imminent reunification with Romania (despite the fact that Germany and Austria, for example, which both use the German language, are separate countries). Again, politics, language, and emotions were thoroughly entangled. Belarusians, the majority of whom prefer to use Russian in their daily lives, have dealt with the language issue differently. They returned Russian to its status of official language, alongside the Belarusian language, through their response to a May 1995 referendum question. Thus the Belarusian language policy reflected Belarus's pro-Russian policies in general. May 31, 1995 * * * In the months following preparation of this manuscript, Belarus's president, Alyaksandr Lukashyenka, and his government continued their pro-Russian policies and their Soviet-era mentality. When Orthodox Patriarch Aleksey II of Moscow and All Russia visited Belarus in July, Lukashyenka praised the Orthodox Church while reproaching the Roman Catholic Church for its active proselytizing and politicking. When subway workers in Minsk went on strike in August, the government sent special police units and Ministry of Interior troops against them. In addition, Lukashyenka reacted angrily to information that United States and Polish trade unions, including Solidarity, were providing financial assistance to the striking workers through Belarusian nongovernmental unions. Also in August, the president ordered that books published in 1992- 95 be removed from secondary schools and institutes of higher education. In other words, these schools would return to using Soviet textbooks. Lukashyenka also continued arrogating power to himself. His unilateral decisions, including suspending parliamentary immunity, outlawing strikes in sectors he deemed critical, banning the activity of two trade unions until further notice, withholding the salaries of parliamentary deputies, and making arbitrary changes in the state budget, paint a picture of a leader seeking to replace the separation of governmental powers with one-man rule. However, it was only after Lukashyenka's decision to suspend parliamentary immunity that the Supreme Soviet spoke up and petitioned the Constitutional Court to rule on the constitutionality of his measures. A constitutional crisis appeared unavoidable unless the two sides could come to an agreement. Perhaps the most dramatic indication that the Soviet mentality is alive and well in Belarus was the hot-air balloon tragedy in September. A yearly international hot-air balloon race starting in Switzerland included three United States balloons that crossed the border into Belarus. Although Belarusian authorities had been notified of the race earlier, the Belarusian military fired at one of the balloons, claiming that it did not have any identification and that sensitive military installations were nearby. The two American pilots of the balloon were killed when a missile caused their hydrogen-filled balloon to explode. The pilots of a second balloon left the country before any problems arose, but authorities detained the pilots of the third balloon for a day before releasing them. The Belarusian government issued an official apology for the shooting that accepted "a certain amount" of blame but nevertheless tried to justify the military's response. Many people were convinced that this would not be the last manifestation of Belarus's Cold War mentality. At the same time, events in Moldova centered on two men --Lieutenant General Aleksandr Lebed', commander of the Russian 14th Army, and Mircea Snegur, Moldova's president. The Russian 14th Army, previously the Soviet 14th Army, remained in Transnistria after the Soviet Union was dissolved to protect the ethnic Russians in what Moscow called "the near abroad." Despite their ostensible status as peacekeepers in Moldova's dispute with Transnistria, the 14th Army supported the extralegal government of the "Dnestr Republic" and was even accused of supplying weapons to it during the worst of the fighting in 1992. At the beginning of June, Lebed' offered his resignation in protest of Russian government plans to downgrade the status of the 14th Army to that of an operational group. After initially refusing the general's resignation, the Russian Ministry of Defense accepted it and replaced him with Major General Valeriy Yevnevich. The Moldovan government's concern was that the new commander continue to keep the army's large stock of weapons safe while a political solution was sought for the problems in Transnistria. Lebed' was seen by some as a strong candidate for the Russian presidency in 1996, but his popularity began decreasing once he resigned and removed himself from the public eye. In a surprising move in July, President Snegur resigned his membership in the ruling Democratic Agrarian Party of Moldova and took his supporters with him to form a new presidential party, later named the Party of Rebirth and Conciliation. By dividing the Agrarians and depriving them of a parliamentary majority, as well as by considering an alliance with a pro-Romanian party, the president had made moves that could disrupt Moldova's political stability. The purpose of these actions was twofold. The first was preparation for the December 1996 presidential election in which Snegur will seek to win on the strength of the ethnic Romanian vote. His two challengers, Prime Minister Andrei Sangheli and Parliament chairman Petru Lucinschi, are expected to capture the votes of Moldova's Russian-speaking population, thus making Snegur dependent on the ethnic Romanians. Snegur's other purpose in creating the new party was an effort to change the government to that of a personalized presidential regime, a move opposed by Parliament. This regime would be different from the existing government and would be at odds with Moldova's political traditions. Under a presidential regime, the existing balance of power between the legislative and executive branches would be disrupted, and, critics charge, the country's progress toward democracy would be jeopardized. In Transnistria the economic situation continued to deteriorate. The authorities of the "Dnestr Republic" sought greater political legitimacy in hopes that this would help them garner more political support and financial assistance from Russia. To this end, the authorities began drafting a constitution and election law in August in preparation for parliamentary elections scheduled for late fall 1995. In the meantime, bread rationing was introduced in Tiraspol and its suburbs in late August. A more important event also began in August--the wind-down of the operational group of Russian troops in Transnistria. A withdrawal of these troops was part of a "gentleman's agreement," reached in October 1994 between Russia and Moldova, that sought a political solution to the stand-off between the "Dnestr Republic" and the rest of Moldova, but that was approved only by Moldova. However, until the Russian State Duma (the lower house of the parliament) approved the agreement, matters would remain at a standstill. In mid-August the commander, Valeriy Yevnevich, now promoted to lieutenant general, began to transfer nonmilitary equipment from the operational group to Transnistrian civilian authorities. Work also began on the destruction of old munitions (some manufactured before 1940) that could not be transported to Russia. Several trainloads of surplus military equipment were to be sent to Russia as well. At the same time, there was a cutback in the number of the operational group's officers and support staff. But because the Russian Duma had not yet ratified the withdrawal of the operational group, military authorities were calling this a "redeployment" of forces and equipment rather than an actual "withdrawal." In September, Igor' N. Smirnov, president of the "Dnestr Republic" addressed the Russian State Duma and made an appeal for official recognition of the "Dnestr Republic." President Snegur of Moldova protested this move and continued to place his confidence in political negotiations. Smirnov, on the other hand, hoped to drag out talks until after Russian parliamentary elections, scheduled for December 1995, in an effort to get more support from the new parliament, which he hoped would be more sympathetic to the Transnistrians' cause. September 29, 1995 Helen Fedor ************* Chapter 2. Moldova Chronology of Important Events SECOND-THIRD CENTURIES ca. 105-270 Rome occupies territory of future Romanian lands. FOURTEENTH CENTURY 1349 Prince Bogdan establishes Bogdania, later renamed Moldova, stretching from Carpathian Mountains to Nistru River. SIXTEENTH CENTURY 1512 Although Stephen the Great (1457-1504) achieves significant victories against Ottoman Empire, Moldova becomes tributary state of empire for 300 years. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY First Half First Moldovan books appear. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 1792 Ottoman Empire cedes all its holdings in Transnistria to Russian Empire under Treaty of Ia i. NINETEENTH CENTURY 1812 Bessarabia is incorporated into Russian Empire under Treaty of Bucharest after Russo-Turkish War (1806-12). 1858 Moldovan territory west of Prut River is united with Walachia. Alexandru Ioan Cuza is elected prince of the two regions the following year. TWENTIETH CENTURY 1917 February Revolution and Bolshevik Revolution bring down Russian Empire. Bessarabia's newly created National Council declares Bessarabia the independent Democratic Moldovan Republic, federated with Russia. 1918 Bessarabia declares its complete independence from Russia and votes to unite with Romania. 1924 Soviet government creates Moldavian Autonomous Oblast on east bank of Nistru River. Seven months later, oblast is upgraded to Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Moldavian ASSR). 1940 June Bessarabia is occupied by Soviet forces as a result of secret protocol attached to 1939 Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. August Soviet government creates Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (Moldavian SSR) from most of Bessarabia and a portion of Moldavian ASSR. 1941 Germany and Romania attack Moldavian SSR and Ukrainian SSR; Germany gives Bessarabia, northern Bukovina, and Transnistria to Romania. 1944 Soviet forces reoccupy Bessarabia and Transnistria. 1947 Bessarabia, northern Bukovina, and Transnistria are formally returned to Soviet Union by treaty. 1950-52 As first secretary of Communist Party of Moldavia, Leonid I. Brezhnev liquidates and deports thousands of ethnic Romanians from Moldova and institutes forced collectivization. 1986 Mikhail S. Gorbachev announces policy of perestroika at CPSU's Twenty- Seventh Party Congress in Moscow. 1988 Yedinstvo/Unitatea is formed by Slavs in Transnistria. 1989 Moldovan Popular Front is formed. 1990 February Popular Front organizes "Republic's Voters Meeting," attended by more than 100,000 persons. First democratic elections are held for Supreme Soviet of Moldavian SSR. Runoff elections are held in March. Mircea Snegur is elected chairman of Supreme Soviet. June Name of Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic is changed to Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova. Supreme Soviet adopts declaration of sovereignty August Gagauz declare an independent "Gagauz Republic." September Slavs in Transnistria proclaim independent "Dnestr Moldavian Republic." Snegur becomes president of Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova. 1991 May Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova is renamed Republic of Moldova. Supreme Soviet changes its name to Moldovan Parliament. August August coup d'état takes place in Moscow. Moldovan Parliament bans Communist Party of Moldavia. Moldova declares its complete independence from Soviet Union on August 27 and demands withdrawal of Soviet troops. October President Snegur announces decision to organize Moldova's own national armed forces. December Stepan Topal is elected president of "Gagauz Republic." Igor' N. Smirnov is elected president of "Dnestr Moldavian Republic." Minsk Agreement establishes Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). President Snegur signs Alma-Ata Declaration, which expands membership of CIS, but Moldovan Parliament refuses to ratify declaration. Soviet Union is dissolved. United States recognizes Moldova. 1992 March Government of Moldova declares state of emergency in reaction to mounting violence. May Armed resistance by separatists escalates to full-scale civil war in Transnistria. July An agreement establishing a cease-fire in Moldova is signed by Moldovan president Snegur and Russian president Boris N. Yeltsin. 1993 January Moldovan Parliament refuses to sign an agreement strengthening CIS. February Moldovan Popular Front is reformed as Christian Democratic Popular Front. November Moldova introduces its own currency, the leu. 1994 February Parliamentary elections drastically change Moldovan government. Popular Front majority gone, compromises made with nationalities on various issues. April Moldova votes to join CIS. August New Moldovan constitution goes into effect. October Moldova and Russia sign an agreement on withdrawal of Russian 14th Army from Transnistria and Bendery, but only Moldovan government approves it. 1995 March Students, intelligentsia, workers, and pensioners demonstrate in Chi in u over cultural and educational issues and the name of the language. June Lieutenant General Aleksandr V. Lebed' resigns as head of the Russian 14th Army in protest over scheduled downgrading of the 14th Army. Data as of June 1995 **************** COUNTRY PROFILE COUNTRY Formal Name: Republic of Moldova (Republica Moldova). Short Form: Moldova. Term for Citizens: Moldovan(s). Capital: Chisinau. Date of Independence: August 27, 1991. GEOGRAPHY Size: Approximately 33,700 square kilometers. Topography: Gently rolling hilly plain in north; thick deciduous forests in center; numerous ravines and gullies in steppe zone in south. Highest point 430 meters. Climate: Moderately continental. Average annual precipitation ranges from 600 millimeters in north to 400 millimeters in south. SOCIETY Population: 4,473,033 (July 1994 estimate); average annual growth rate 0.38 percent (1994 estimate). Ethnic Groups: According to 1989 census, 64.5 percent Romanian, 13.8 percent Ukrainian, 13.0 percent Russian, 3.5 percent Gagauz, 2.0 percent Bulgarian, 1.5 percent Jewish, and 1.7 other, including Belarusian, Polish, Roma (Gypsy), and German. Languages: Moldovan (a dialect of Romanian) official language; Russian retained as language of interethnic communication; areas of non-Romanian ethnic majority may also use local language as means of communication. Religion: About 98.5 percent Eastern Orthodox (1991); also, Uniate, Jewish, Armenian Apostolic, Seventh-Day Adventist, Baptist, Pentecostal, and Molokan. Education and Literacy: Mandatory School attendance, ten years; literacy, 96 percent (1992). Approximately half of students study in Romanian language and half in Russian language. Health: Health care provided by state, mostly free of charge. Infant mortality rate 30.3 per 1,000 live births (1994). Life expectancy (1994) for males sixty-five years and for females seventy-two years. Modern medical equipment and facilities in short supply. In 1990 about 129 hospital beds and forty doctors per 10,000 inhabitants. ECONOMY General Character: Centralized. Government efforts to privatize and establish market economy slow. National Material Product (NMP): In 1991 about US$13.1 billion; real growth rate -11.9 percent in 1992. Agriculture accounted for 42 percent of NMP in 1991, followed by industry with 38 percent, and other sectors with 24 percent. Agriculture: State and collective farms transformed into joint-stock companies. Primary crops: fruits and berries, grains, grapes, tobacco, vegetables, sugar beets, potatoes, and sunflowers. Cattle, hogs, poultry, and lambs raised. Industry: Food, machinery and metalworking, light industry, building materials, tractors, and wood products. Minerals: No commercial mineral deposits. Energy: Primary energy sources (minor hydroelectric and thermal power plants, and firewood) meet only 1 percent of domestic needs. Highly dependent on Russia for nearly all oil, gasoline, coal, and natural gas needed to fuel electric-power generation plants. Foreign Trade: In 1994 nearly three-quarters of foreign trade with other members of Commonwealth of Independent States. Most imports and the vast majority of exports still directed toward territories of former Soviet Union. Imports: industrial raw materials, fossil fuels, and manufactured goods. Exports: wine and spirits, processed foods, and clothing and textiles. Fiscal Year: Calendar year. Currency and Exchange Rate: The leu (pl., lei), introduced in November 1993. In January 1995, 4.27 lei per US$1. TRANSPORTATION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS Highways: In 1995 estimated at 20,100 kilometers, including 14,000 kilometers of paved surfaces. Railroads: In 1995 estimated at 1,150 kilometers. Airports: Major airport in Chisinau. Inland Waterways: Main river, Nistru, navigable almost entire length, but water transport only of local importance. Only eight rivers extend more than 100 kilometers. Telecommunications: In 1995 one private television channel and three state television channels: Moldovan, Romanian, and Russian. In 1993 nine AM radio stations in four cities, and five FM stations in five cities, as well as a number of private radio stations. GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS Government: Democracy, with president and unicameral legislature, Moldovan Parliament, both popularly elected. Government composed of president and Council of Ministers. General Prosecution Office headed by prosecutor general. New constitution went into effect August 27, 1994. Two selfproclaimed republics: "Gagauzia," recognized and granted autonomy; and "Dnestr Moldavian Republic," with an elected, extralegal separatist government. Politics: Leading parties after 1994 parliamentary elections: Democratic Agrarian Party of Moldova, Christian Democratic Popular Front, Congress of Peasants and Intellectuals, Gagauz Halkî, and Yedinstvo/Socialist Bloc. Foreign Relations: First recognized by Romania; as of early 1995, recognized by more than 170 states, including United States (December 25, 1991). Foreign diplomatic presence in Chisinau limited. Relations with Romania influenced by issue of reunification of the two countries. Relations with Ukraine improved as a result of less nationalistic Moldovan policies; presence of the Russian 14th Army in Transnistria seen as a common threat. Relationship with Russia very tense. International Agreements and Memberships: Member of Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, United Nations, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, North Atlantic Cooperation Council, Community of Riparian Countries of the Black Sea. Observer at General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and World Trade Organization (successor to GATT). Alma-Ata Declaration, creating Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), signed by president December 1991 but not ratified by Parliament until April 1994. Member of Commonwealth of Independent States, as of April 1994. NATIONAL SECURITY Armed Forces: Armed forces under Ministry of Defense. In early 1995 totaled approximately 11,000: ground forces (9,800, including army and Guard Battalion) and air force (1,300, including air defense). Reserves of 100,000 (those who had had military service in previous five years). Universal conscription, for up to eighteen months. Major Military Units: In 1994 army consisted of three motor rifle brigades, one artillery brigade, and one reconnaissance/assault battalion. Air force consisted of one fighter regiment, one helicopter squadron, and one missile brigade. Military Equipment: Arms from former Soviet stocks and undetermined quantities of arms from Romania. Internal Security: National police, including internal troops (2,500) and OPON riot police (900) under Ministry of Interior. Security police and Border Guards under Ministry of National Security. Local assets of former Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic KGB transferred to new government along with personnel who wished to transfer to form new Ministry of National Security. Russian Troops: Russian 14th Army (14,200, including Republican Guard) and "Cossacks" (approximately 1,000) constitute forces of self-proclaimed "Dnestr Moldavian Republic" in Transnistria. ************* HISTORICAL BACKGROUND THE HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA is the history of two different regions that have been joined into one country, but not into one nation: Bessarabia and Transnistria. Bessarabia, the land between the Prut and Nistru rivers, is predominantly ethnic Romanian in population and constitutes the eastern half of a region historically known as Moldova or Moldavia (the Soviet-era Russian name). Transnistria is the Romanian-language name for the land on the east bank of the Nistru River; the majority of the population there is Slavic--ethnic Ukrainians and Russians-- although Romanians are the single largest ethnic group there. To a great extent, Moldova's history has been shaped by the foreigners who came to stay and by those who merely passed through, including Greek colonists, invading Turks and Tatars, officials of the Russian Empire, German and Bulgarian colonists, communist apparatchiks from the Soviet Union, soldiers from Nazi Germany, Romanian conationalists, and twentieth-century Russian and Ukrainian immigrants. Each group has left its own legacy, sometimes cultural and sometimes political, and often unwelcome. Moldova's communist overlords, the most recent "foreigners," created the public life that exists in Moldova today. Independence has brought about changes in this public life, but often only on the surface. What further changes Moldova makes will depend partly on how much time it has before the next group of "foreigners" comes to call. ************* Early History Moldova's Latin origins can be traced to the period of Roman occupation of nearby Dacia (in present-day Romania, Bulgaria, and Serbia), ca. A.D. 105-270, when a culture was formed from the intermingling of Roman colonists and the local population. After the Roman Empire and its influence waned and its troops left the region in A.D. 271, a number of groups passed through the area, often violently: Huns, Ostrogoths, and Antes (who were Slavs). The Bulgarian Empire, the Magyars, the Pechenegs, and the Golden Horde (Mongols) also held sway temporarily. In the thirteenth century, Hungary expanded into the area and established a line of fortifications in Moldova near the Siretul River (in present-day Romania) and beyond. The region came under Hungarian suzerainty until an independent Moldovan principality was established by Prince Bogdan in 1349. Originally called Bogdania, the principality stretched from the Carpathian Mountains to the Nistru River and was later renamed Moldova, after the Moldova River in present-day Romania. During the second half of the fifteenth century, all of southeastern Europe came under increasing pressure from the Ottoman Empire, and despite significant military victories by Stephen the Great (Stefan cel Mare, 1457-1504), Moldova succumbed to Ottoman power in 1512 and was a tributary state of the empire for the next 300 years. In addition to paying tribute to the Ottoman Empire and later acceding to the selection of local rulers by Ottoman authorities, Moldova suffered repeated invasions by Turks, Crimean Tatars, and Russians. In 1792 the Treaty of Iasi forced the Ottoman Empire to cede all of its holdings in what is now Transnistria to the Russian Empire. An expanded Bessarabia was annexed by, and incorporated into, the Russian Empire following the Russo-Turkish War of 1806- 12 according to the terms of the Treaty of Bucharest of 1812 (see fig. 14). Moldovan territory west of the Prut River was united with Walachia. And in the same year, Alexandru Ioan Cuza was elected prince of Walachia and the part of Moldova that lay west of the Prut River, laying the foundations of modern Romania. These two regions were united in 1861. ************* The Beginning of the Soviet Period In 1917, during World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution, political leaders in Bessarabia created a National Council (Sfatul Tarii), which declared Bessarabia the independent Democratic Moldovan Republic, federated with Russia. In February 1918, the new republic declared its complete independence from Russia and, two months later, voted to unite with Romania, thus angering the Russian government. After the creation of the Soviet Union in December 1922, the Soviet government moved in 1924 to establish the Moldavian Autonomous Oblast on land east of the Nistru River in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Ukrainian SSR). The capital of the oblast was at Balta (Balta, in Ukrainian), in present-day Ukraine. Seven months later, the oblast was upgraded to the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Moldavian ASSR), even though its population was only 30 percent ethnic Romanian. The capital remained at Balta until 1929, when it was moved to Tiraspol (Tiraspol', in Russian). In June 1940, Bessarabia was occupied by Soviet forces as a consequence of a secret protocol attached to the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact (see Glossary). On August 2, 1940, the Soviet government created the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (Moldavian SSR), with its capital at Chisinau (Kishinëv, in Russian), by joining most of Bessarabia with a portion of the Moldavian ASSR (the rest was returned to the Ukrainian SSR). Part of the far northern Moldavian ASSR (Herta--in present-day Ukraine), northern Bukovina (see Glossary), and southern Bessarabia (bordering on the Black Sea) were taken from Romania and incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR, leaving the Moldavian SSR landlocked. *************** World War II In June 1941, German and Romanian troops attacked the Moldavian SSR and the Ukrainian SSR; the Nazis gave Romania, their ally, not only Bessarabia and northern Bukovina but also the land between the Nistru and Pivdennyy Buh (Yuzhnyy Bug, in Russian) rivers, north to Bar in Ukraine, which Romania named and administered as Transnistria. This arrangement lasted until August 1944, when Soviet forces reoccupied Bessarabia and Transnistria. A 1947 treaty formally returned Bessarabia, northern Bukovina, and Transnistria to the Soviet Union, and the previous Soviet administrative divisions and Russian place-names were reimposed. ************** Postwar Reestablishment of Soviet Control With the restoration of Soviet power in the Moldavian SSR, Joseph V. Stalin's government policy was to Russify (see Glossary) the population of the Moldavian SSR and destroy any remaining ties it had with Romania. Secret police struck at nationalist groups; the Cyrillic alphabet (see Glossary) was imposed on the "Moldavian" (see Glossary) language; and ethnic Russians and Ukrainians were encouraged to immigrate to the Moldavian SSR, especially to Transnistria. The government's policies--requisitioning large amounts of agricultural products despite a poor harvest--induced a famine following the catastrophic drought of 1945-47, and political, communist party, and academic positions were given to members of non-Romanian ethnic groups (only 14 percent of the Moldavian SSR's political leaders were ethnic Romanians in 1946). The conditions imposed during the reestablishment of Soviet rule became the basis of deep resentment toward Soviet authorities--a resentment that soon manifested itself. During Leonid I. Brezhnev's 1950-52 tenure as first secretary of the Communist Party of Moldavia (CPM), he put down a rebellion of ethnic Romanians by killing or deporting thousands of people and instituting forced collectivization (see Glossary). Although Brezhnev and other CPM first secretaries were largely successful in suppressing "Moldavian" nationalism, the hostility of "Moldavians" smoldered for another three decades, until after Mikhail S. Gorbachev came to power. His policies of glasnost (see Glossary) and perestroika (see Glossary) created conditions in which national feelings could be openly expressed and in which the Soviet republics could consider reforms. *************** Increasing Political Self-Expression In this climate of openness, political self-assertion escalated in the Moldavian SSR in 1988. The year 1989 saw the formation of the Moldovan Popular Front (commonly called the Popular Front), an association of independent cultural and political groups that had finally gained official recognition. Large demonstrations by ethnic Romanians led to the designation of Romanian as the official language and the replacement of the head of the CPM. However, opposition was growing to the increasing influence of ethnic Romanians, especially in Transnistria, where the Yedinstvo-Unitatea (Unity) Intermovement had been formed in 1988 by the Slavic minorities, and in the south, where Gagauz Halkî (Gagauz People), formed in November 1989, came to represent the Gagauz, a Turkic-speaking minority there (see Ethnic Composition , this ch.). The first democratic elections to the Moldavian SSR's Supreme Soviet (see Glossary) were held February 25, 1990. Runoff elections were held in March. The Popular Front won a majority of the votes. After the elections, Mircea Snegur, a communist, was elected chairman of the Supreme Soviet; in September he became president of the republic. The reformist government that took over in May 1990 made many changes that did not please the minorities, including changing the republic's name in June from the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic to the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova and declaring it sovereign the same month. ************* Secession of Gagauzia and Transnistria In August the Gagauz declared a separate "Gagauz Republic" (Gagauz-Yeri) in the south, around the city of Comrat (Komrat, in Russian). In September, Slavs on the east bank of the Nistru River proclaimed the "Dnestr Moldavian Republic" (commonly called the "Dnestr Republic") in Transnistria, with its capital at Tiraspol. Although the Supreme Soviet immediately declared these declarations null, both "republics" went on to hold elections. Stepan Topal was elected president of the "Gagauz Republic" in December 1991, and Igor' N. Smirnov was elected president of the "Dnestr Republic" in the same month. Approximately 50,000 armed Moldovan nationalist volunteers went to Transnistria, where widespread violence was temporarily averted by the intervention of the Russian 14th Army. (The Soviet 14th Army, now the Russian 14th Army, had been headquartered in Chisinau under the High Command of the Southwestern Theater of Military Operations since 1956.) Negotiations in Moscow among the Gagauz, the Transnistrian Slavs, and the government of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova failed, and the government refused to join in further negotiations. In May 1991, the country's official name was changed to the Republic of Moldova (Republica Moldova). The name of the Supreme Soviet also was changed, to the Moldovan Parliament. ************ Independence During the 1991 August coup d'état (see Glossary) in Moscow, commanders of the Soviet Union's Southwestern Theater of Military Operations tried to impose a state of emergency in Moldova, but they were overruled by the Moldovan government, which declared its support for Russian president Boris N. Yeltsin. On August 27, 1991, following the coup's collapse, Moldova declared its independence from the Soviet Union (see Appendix B). In October, Moldova began to organize its own armed forces. The Soviet Union was falling apart quickly, and Moldova had to rely on itself to prevent the spread of violence from the "Dnestr Republic" to the rest of the country. The December elections of Stepan Topal and Igor' Smirnov as presidents of their respective "republics," and the official dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of the year, led to increased tensions in Moldova. Violence again flared up in Transnistria in 1992. A ceasefire agreement was negotiated by presidents Snegur and Yeltsin in July. A demarcation line was to be maintained by a tripartite peacekeeping force (composed of Moldovan, Russian, and Transnistrian forces), and Moscow agreed to withdraw its 14th Army if a suitable constitutional provision were made for Transnistria. Also, Transnistria would have a special status within Moldova and would have the right to secede if Moldova decided to reunite with Romania. ************ Progress Toward Political Accommodation New parliamentary elections were held in Moldova on February 27, 1994. Although the election was described by international observers as free and fair, authorities in Transnistria refused to allow balloting there and made efforts to discourage the inhabitants from participating. Only some 7,500 inhabitants voted at specially established precincts in right-bank Moldova. The new Parliament, with its Democratic Agrarian Party of Moldova majority, did not face the same gridlock that characterized the old Parliament with its majority of Popular Front hard-line nationalists: legislation was passed, and changes were made. President Snegur signed the Partnership for Peace agreement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in March 1994, and in April Parliament approved Moldova's membership in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS--see Glossary) and in a CIS charter on economic union. On July 28, Parliament ratified a new constitution, which went into effect August 27, 1994, and provided substantial autonomy to Transnistria and to Gagauzia. Russia and Moldova signed an agreement in October 1994 on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Transnistria, but the Russian government balked at ratifying it, and another stalemate ensued. Although the cease-fire was still in effect at the beginning of 1995 and further negotiations were to include the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and the United Nations, there was little hope for progress in the near future toward settling the dispute and getting the Russian troops to leave. In March and April 1995, Moldovan college and secondaryschool students staged a series of strikes and demonstrations in Chisinau to protest the government's cultural and educational policies. The students were joined by segments of the local intelligentsia and later by workers and pensioners who were protesting for economic reasons. The most emotional issue was that of the national language: should it be Moldovan, as named in the 1994 constitution, or Romanian as most experts agree? (See Language , this ch.) In an April 27 speech to Parliament, President Snegur asked Parliament to amend the constitution and change the name of the language to Romanian. The government's final decision was postponed until the fall because of the stipulation that six months must pass before a proposed change to the constitution can be made. The student demonstrators declared a moratorium on further strikes until September 6. In 1995 Moldova was still faced with substantial domestic social and economic problems, but it seemed to be on the road to making progress toward the ideal of an open-market democracy. The country's complex ethnic makeup and the political legacy of the Soviet period continued to contribute to the government's difficulties, but the fall from power of the extreme nationalists in the 1994 parliamentary elections lowered ethnic tensions and allowed compromises to be made with the major ethnic groups. With Russia now a partner in negotiations on Transnistria and with pledges by the new government to respect the rights of the country's Russian-speaking populace, the threat of international hostilities has been greatly reduced. *************** PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT Located in southeastern Europe, Moldova is bordered on the west by Romania and on the north, south, and east by Ukraine. Most of its territory lies between the area's two main rivers, the Nistru and the Prut. The Nistru (Dnister, in Ukrainian; Dnestr in Russian) forms a small part of Moldova's border with Ukraine in the northeast, but it mainly flows through the eastern part of the country, separating Bessarabia and Transnistria. The Prut River forms Moldova's entire western boundary with Romania. ************ Topography and Drainage Most of Moldova's approximately 33,700 square kilometers of territory (about the size of Maryland) cover a hilly plain cut deeply by many streams and rivers. Geologically, Moldova lies primarily on deep sedimentary rock that gives way to harder crystalline outcroppings only in the north, where higher elevations are found on the margins of the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. The gently rolling Balti Plain (Stepa Balti, in Romanian; Bel'tskaya ravnina, in Russian) in northern Moldova (lying at ninety to 600 meters in elevation in the north) gives way to thick, deciduous forests in the Codri Hills (Podisul Codrilor, in Romanian; Kodry, in Russian), averaging 350 to 400 meters in elevation, where the most common trees are hornbeam, oak, linden, maple, wild pear, and wild cherry. The country's highest point, Mount Balanesti (Balaneshty, in Russian), is located in the west central portion of the country and reaches 430 meters. The Bugeac Plain (Budzhak, in Russian) in the south has numerous ravines and gullies. Transnistria has spurs of the Volyn-Podolian Upland (Podisul Podolie, in Romanian; VolynoPodil 's'ka vysochyna, in Ukrainian), which are cut into by tributaries of the Nistru River. About 75 percent of Moldova is covered by a soil type called chernozem (see Glossary). In the northern highlands, more claytextured soils are found; in the south, red-earth soil is predominant. The soil becomes less fertile toward the south but can still support grape and sunflower production. The uplands have woodland soils, while southern Moldova is in the steppe (see Glossary) zone, although most steppe areas today are cultivated. The lower reaches of the Prut River and the southern river valleys are saline marshes. Drainage in Moldova is to the south, toward the Black Sea lowlands, and eventually into the Black Sea, but only eight rivers extend more than 100 kilometers. Moldova's main river, the Nistru, is navigable throughout almost the entire country, and in warmer winters it does not freeze over. The Prut River is a tributary of the Danube River, which it joins at the far southwestern tip of the country. *************** Climate Moldova's climate is moderately continental: the summers are warm and long, with temperatures averaging about 20°C, and the winters are relatively mild and dry, with January temperatures averaging -4°C. Annual rainfall, which ranges from around 600 millimeters in the north to 400 millimeters in the south, can vary greatly; long dry spells are not unusual. The heaviest rainfall occurs in early summer and again in October; heavy showers and thunderstorms are common. Because of the irregular terrain, heavy summer rains often cause erosion and river silting. ************* Environmental Concerns Moldova's communist-era environmental legacy, like that of many other former Soviet republics, is one of environmental degradation. Agricultural practices such as overuse of pesticides, herbicides, and artificial fertilizers were intended to increase agricultural output at all costs, without regard for the consequences. As a result, Moldova's soil and groundwater were contaminated by lingering chemicals, some of which (including DDT) have been banned in the West. Such practices continue in Moldova to the present day. In the early 1990s, per hectare use of pesticides in Moldova averaged approximately twenty times that of other former Soviet republics and Western nations. In addition, poor farming methods, such as destroying forests to plant vineyards, have contributed to the extensive soil erosion to which the country's rugged topography is already prone. ***************** POPULATION AND ETHNIC COMPOSITION Population Characteristics Source: Based on information from World Bank, Statistical Handbook: States of the Former USSR, Washington, 1992, 279; and United Nations, Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis, Demographic Yearbook (Annuaire démographique), 1992, New York, 1994, 184. Although Moldova is by far the most densely populated of the former Soviet republics (129 inhabitants per square kilometer in 1990, compared with thirteen inhabitants per square kilometer for the Soviet Union as a whole), it has few large cities. The largest and most important of these is Chisinau, the country's capital and its most important industrial center. Founded in 1420, Chisinau is located in the center of the republic, on the Bîc (Byk, in Russian) River, and in 1990 had a population of 676,000. The city's population is slightly more than 50 percent ethnic Romanian, with ethnic Russians constituting approximately 25 percent and Ukrainians 13 percent. The proportion of ethnic Russians and Ukrainians in the capital's population decreased in the years immediately after 1989 because of the emigration resulting from Moldavia's changing political situation and civil unrest. The second largest city in the republic, Tiraspol, had a population of 184,000 in 1990. It is located in Transnistria and served as the capital of the Moldavian ASSR from 1929 to 1940. It has remained an important center of administration, transportation, and manufacturing. In contrast to Chisinau, Tiraspol had a population of only some 18 percent ethnic Romanians, with most of the remainder being ethnic Russians (41 percent) and Ukrainians (32 percent). Other important cities include Balti (Bel'tsy, in Russian), with a population of 162,000 in 1990, and Bender (or Bendery, in Russian; Tighina in Romanian), with a population of 132,000 in the same year. As in Tiraspol, ethnic Romanians are in the minority in both of these cities. Traditionally a rural country, Moldova gradually began changing its character under Soviet rule (see table 7, Appendix A). As urban areas became the sites of new industrial jobs and of amenities such as clinics, the population of cities and towns grew. The new residents were not only ethnic Romanians who had moved from rural areas but also many ethnic Russians and Ukrainians who had been recruited to fill positions in industry and government (see Ethnic Composition , this ch.) In 1990 Moldova's divorce rate of 3.0 divorces per 1,000 population had risen from the 1987 rate of 2.7 divorces per 1,000 population (see table 9, Appendix A). The usual stresses of marriage were exacerbated by a society in which women were expected to perform most of the housework in addition to their work outside the home. Compounding this were crowded housing conditions (with their resulting lack of privacy) and, no doubt, the growing political crisis, which added its own strains. **************** Ethnic Composition One of Moldova's characteristic traits is its ethnic diversity. As early as the beginning of the eighteenth century, Moldovan prince and scholar Dimitrie Cantemir observed that he "didn't believe that there [existed] a single country of the size of Moldova in which so many and such diverse peoples meet." At the time of the 1989 census, Moldova's total population was 4,335,400. The largest nationality in the republic, ethnic Romanians, numbered 2,795,000 persons, accounting for 64.5 percent of the population. The other major nationalities were Ukrainians, about 600,000 (14 percent); Russians, about 562,000 (13.0 percent); Gagauz, about 153,000 (4 percent); Bulgarians, about 88,000 (2 percent); and Jews, about 66,000 (2.0 percent). There were also smaller but appreciable numbers of Belarusians, Poles, Roma (Gypsies), and Germans in the population (see fig. 16). In contrast, in Transnistria ethnic Romanians accounted for only 40 percent, of the population in 1989, followed by Ukrainians (28 percent), Russians (25 percent), Bulgarians (2 percent), and Gagauz (1 percent) (see fig. 17). In the early 1990s, there was significant emigration from the republic, primarily from urban areas and primarily by Romanian minorities. In 1990 persons emigrating accounted for 6.8 percent of the population. This figure rose to 10 percent in 1991 before dropping sharply to 2 percent in 1992. Ethnic Romanians made up a sizable proportion of the urban population in 1989 (about half the population of Chisinau, for example), as well as a large proportion of the rural population (80 percent), but only 23 percent of the ethnic Romanians lived in the republic's ten largest cities. Many had emigrated to Romania at the end of World War II, and others had lost their lives during the war and in postwar Soviet purges. As a consequence of industrial growth and the Soviet government's policy of diluting and Russifying ethnic Romanians, there was significant immigration to the Moldavian SSR by other nationalities, especially ethnic Russians and Ukrainians. Unlike ethnic Romanians, ethnic Russians tend to be urban dwellers in Moldova; more than 72 percent of them lived in the ten largest cities in 1989. Many of them came to the Moldavian SSR after it was annexed by the Soviet government in 1940; more arrived after World War II. Ostensibly, they came to alleviate the Moldavian SSR's postwar labor shortage (although thousands of ethnic Romanians were being deported to Central Asia at the time) and to fill leadership positions in industry and the government. The Russians settled mainly in Chisinau and Bender and in the Transnistrian cities of Tiraspol and Dubasari (Dubossary, in Russian). Only about 25 percent of Moldova's Russians lived in Transnistria in the early 1990s (see fig. 18). Ethnic Ukrainians in Moldova are more evenly distributed between rural and urban areas. Forty-seven percent of them resided in large cities in 1989; others lived in long-settled villages dispersed throughout the region, but particularly in the north and in Transnistria. The Gagauz, Turkic-speaking Orthodox Christians (unlike most Turks, who are Muslims), are concentrated in rural southern Moldova, mainly around the cities of Comrat, Ciadîr-Lunga (Chadyr-Lunga, in Russian), and Vulcanesti (Vulkaneshty, in Russian). Their ethnic origin is complex and still debated by scholars, but it is agreed that they migrated to Bessarabia from Bulgaria in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Shortly after Moldova declared its sovereignty, in June 1990 the Gagauz declared their own independent "Gagauz Republic" in the southern part of the country. The 1994 constitution accorded them a measure of autonomy, and a decree later that year officially established Gagauzia (Gagauz-Yeri, in Gagauz). Ethnic Bulgarians in Moldova live mainly in the southern part of the country. Most of them are descendants of eighteenthcentury settlers who came to the region because of persecution by the Turks. Others came to Bessarabia when Imperial Russia encouraged their emigration in the nineteenth century. Their numbers declined from 177,000 when the Moldavian SSR was formed in 1940 to 88,000 in the 1989 census. Although considered a religious affiliation in the West, "Jewish" was considered a nationality by Soviet authorities, even though Judaism was suppressed as a religion. Although Jews had lived in Bessarabia and the region of Moldova for centuries before Empress Catherine II of Russia established the Pale of Settlement, Jews in Russia were restricted to living and traveling solely within the Pale as of 1792. By the nineteenth century, the Pale included Russian Poland, Lithuania, Belorussia, most of Ukraine, Crimea, and Bessarabia. It was only in the second half of the nineteenth century that exceptions were made. Most of the prolonged military conflict of World War I and the Russian Civil War took place in the Pale, inflicting heavy losses of life and property on Jews. When it was created in 1940, the Moldavian SSR (mainly Chisinau) held more than 200,000 Jews. However, their numbers plummeted to only several thousand as a result of emigration. Their ranks increased again during the 1960s and 1970s, only to decline afterward, mainly the result of emigration. In general, Jews in independent Moldova were not discriminated against. But problems in Transnistria (home to almost one-quarter of Moldova's Jews) and the anti-Semitic attitudes of the "Dnestr Republic" authorities prompted many of them to think of emigration. **************** LANGUAGE, RELIGION, AND CULTURE Language The Moldovan dialect of Romanian, spoken by the majority of the people of Bessarabia, was viewed by both the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union as an impediment to controlling the local populace. Under the tsars, Romanian-language education and the Romanian press were forbidden as part of a process of forced Russification. Stalin justified the creation of the Moldavian SSR by claiming that a distinct "Moldavian" language was an indicator that "Moldavians" were a separate nationality from the Romanians in Romania. In order to give greater credence to this claim, in 1940 Stalin imposed the Cyrillic alphabet on "Moldavian" to make it look more like Russian and less like Romanian; archaic Romanian words of Slavic origin were imposed on "Moldavian"; Russian loanwords and phrases were added to "Moldavian"; and a new theory was advanced that "Moldavian" was at least partially Slavic in origin. (Romanian is a Romance language descended from Latin.) In 1949 Moldavian citizens were publicly reprimanded in a journal for daring to express themselves in literary Romanian. The Soviet government continued this type of behavior for decades. Proper names in Moldova were subjected to Russianization (see Glossary) as well. Russian endings were added to purely Romanian names, and individuals were referred to in the Russian manner by using a patronymic (based on one's father's first name) as a middle name. In 1989 members of most of the Moldavian SSR's nationalities claimed their national language as their mother tongue: Romanians (95 percent), Ukrainians (62 percent), Russians (99 percent), Gagauz (91 percent), Bulgarians (79 percent), and Roma (82 percent). The exceptions were Jews (26 percent citing Yiddish), Belarusians (43 percent), Germans (31 percent), and Poles (10 percent). Although both Romanian written in the Cyrillic alphabet (that is, "Moldavian") and Russian were the official languages of the Moldavian SSR, only 62 percent of the total population claimed Romanian as their native language in 1979. If ethnic Romanians are subtracted from this number, the figure falls to just over 1 percent. Only 4 percent of the entire population claimed Romanian as a second language. In 1979 Russian was claimed as a native language by a large proportion of Jews (66 percent) and ethnic Belarusians (62 percent) and by a significant proportion of ethnic Ukrainians (30 percent). Proportions of other nationalities naming Russian as a native language ranged from 17 percent of ethnic Bulgarians to 3 percent of ethnic Romanians (urban Romanians were more Russianized than rural Romanians). Russian was claimed as a second language by a sizable proportion of all the nationalities: Romanians (46 percent), Ukrainians (43 percent), Gagauz (68 percent), Jews (30 percent), Bulgarians (67 percent), Belarusians (34 percent), Germans (53 percent), Roma (36 percent), and Poles (24 percent). On August 31, 1989, the Supreme Soviet of Moldavia passed the Law on State Language, which made Moldovan written in the Latin alphabet the state language of the Moldavian SSR. Because of pressure exerted by non-Romanian ethnic groups, Russian was retained as the language of interethnic communication. In areas where non-Romanian ethnic groups were the majority, the language of that majority could also be used as a means of communication. Because of strong objections raised by the non-Romanian nationalities, implementation of the law was delayed. The new Moldovan constitution, adopted August 27, 1994, states that Moldovan, written in the Latin script, is designated as the official language, but provisions were made for Russian and other languages to be used in areas of minority concentrations. Russian was also to be the language of interethnic communication. On April 27, 1995, President Snegur asked Parliament to change the name of the language in the constitution, from Moldovan to Romanian, in response to demonstrations and strikes led by students. According to Moldovan law, it would be six months before a proposed change to the constitution could be made. ************** Religion Most of Moldova's population are Orthodox Christians. In 1991, about 98.5 percent of the population belonged to this faith. The Soviet government strictly limited the activities of the Orthodox Church (and all religions) and at times sought to exploit it, with the ultimate goal of destroying it and all religious activity. Most Orthodox churches and monasteries in Moldova were demolished or converted to other uses, such as warehouses, and clergy were sometimes punished for leading services. But many believers continued to practice their faith in secret. In 1991 Moldova had 853 Orthodox churches and eleven Orthodox monasteries (four for monks and seven for nuns). In addition, the Old Russian Orthodox Church (Old Believers--see Glossary) had fourteen churches and one monastery in Moldova. Before Soviet power was established in Moldova, the vast majority of ethnic Romanians belonged to the Romanian Orthodox Church (Bucharest Patriarchate), but today the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) has jurisdiction in Moldova. Russian, Romanian, and Turkic (Gagauz) liturgies are used in the church. After the recent revival of religious activity, most of the clergy and the faithful wanted to return to the Bucharest Patriarchate but were prevented from doing so. Because higherlevel church authorities were unable to resolve the matter, Moldova now has two episcopates, one for each patriarchate. In late 1992, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia issued a decree upgrading the Eparchy of Chisinau and Moldova to a metropolitan see (for definition of eparchy--see Glossary). Moldova also has a Uniate minority, mainly among ethnic Ukrainians, although the Soviet government declared the Uniate Church (see Glossary) illegal in 1946 and forcibly united it with the Russian Orthodox Church. The Uniate Church survived underground, however, outlasting the Soviet Union itself. Despite the Soviet government's suppression and ongoing harassment, Moldova's Jews managed to retain their religious identity. About a dozen Jewish newspapers were started in the early 1990s, and religious leaders opened a synagogue in Chisinau; there were six Jewish communities of worship throughout the country. In addition, Moldova's government created the Department of Jewish Studies at Chisinau State University, mandated the opening of a Jewish high school in Chisinau, and introduced classes in Judaism in high schools in several cities. The government also provides financial support to the Society for Jewish Culture. Other religious denominations in Moldova are the Armenian Apostolic Church, Seventh-Day Adventists, Baptists, Pentecostals, and Molokans (a Russian Orthodox sect). Citizens in independent Moldova have much greater religious freedom than they did under the Soviet regime. Legislation passed in 1992 guaranteed religious freedom but did require that all religious groups be officially recognized by the government. In 1992 construction or restoration of 221 churches was under way, but clergy remained in short supply. ************** Culture Moldova's cultural tradition has been influenced primarily by the Romanian origin of its majority population and cannot be understood outside of the development of classical Romanian culture, in which it played a significant role. The roots of Romanian culture reach back to the second century A.D., the period of Roman colonization in Dacia. During the centuries following the Roman withdrawal in A.D. 271, the population of the region was influenced by contact with the Byzantine Empire, neighboring Slavic and Magyar populations, and later the Ottoman Turks. Beginning in the nineteenth century, a strong West European (particularly French) influence came to be evident in Romanian literature and the arts. The resulting mélange has produced a rich cultural tradition. Although foreign contacts were an inevitable consequence of the region's geography, their influence only served to enhance a vital and resilient popular culture. The regional population had come to identify itself widely as "Moldovan" by the fourteenth century but continued to maintain close cultural links with other Romanian groups. The eastern Moldovans, however, those inhabiting Bessarabia and Transnistria, were also influenced by Slavic culture from neighboring Ukraine. During the periods 1812-1917 and 1944-89, the eastern Moldovans were influenced by Russian and Soviet administrative control as well and by ethnic Russian immigration. Bessarabia was one of the least-developed and least-educated European regions of the Russian Empire. In 1930 its literacy rate was only 40 percent, according to a Romanian census. Although Soviet authorities promoted education (not the least to spread communist ideology), they also did everything they could to break the region's cultural ties with Romania. With many ethnic Romanian intellectuals either fleeing, being killed, or being deported both during and after World War II, Bessarabia's cultural and educational situation worsened. To fill the gap, Soviet authorities developed urban cultural and scientific centers and institutions that were subsequently filled with Russians and with other non-Romanian ethnic groups, but this culture was superimposed and alien. Urban culture came from Moscow; the rural ethnic Romanian population was allowed to express itself only in folklore or folk art. Although the folk arts flourished, similarities with Romanian culture were hidden. Music and dance, particularly encouraged by Soviet authorities, were made into a showcase but were subtly distorted to hide their Romanian origins. An example is the national folk costume, in which the traditional Romanian moccasin (opinca) was replaced by the Russian boot. Moldova's folk culture is extremely rich, and the ancient folk ballad, the "Miorita," plays a central role in the traditional culture. Folk traditions, including ceramics and weaving, continue to be practiced in rural areas. The folk culture tradition is promoted at the national level and is represented by, among other groups, the republic's dance company, Joc, and by the folk choir, Doina. The first Moldovan books (religious texts) appeared in the mid-seventeenth century. Prominent figures in Moldova's cultural development include prince and scholar Dimitrie Cantemir (1673- 1723), historian and philologist Bogdan P. Hasdeu (1836-1907), author Ion Creanga (1837-89), and poet Mihai Eminescu (1850-89). Prominent modern writers include Vladimir Besleaga, Pavel Botu, Aureliu Busioc, Nicolae Dabija, Ion Druta, and Grigore Vieru. In 1991 a total of 520 books were published in Moldova, of which 402 were in Romanian, 108 in Russian, eight in Gagauz, and two in Bulgarian. In the early 1990s, Moldova had twelve professional theaters. All performed in Romanian except the A.P. Chekhov Russian Drama Theater in Chisinau and the Russian Drama and Comedy Theater in Tiraspol, both of which performed solely in Russian, and the Licurici Republic Puppet Theater (in Chisinau), which performed in both Romanian and Russian. Members of ethnic minorities manage a number of folklore groups and amateur theaters throughout the country. *************** EDUCATION, HEALTH, AND WELFARE Education In the decades prior to independence, the Moldavian SSR's education system made substantial progress toward being available to all citizens. At the beginning of the twentieth century, illiteracy had been common among Moldova's rural population. But by 1992, the adult literacy rate had risen to 96 percent. In 1990 the mean duration of schooling was six years, and 30 percent of the population aged fifteen and older had completed general secondary education. Under the Soviet education system, the Moldavian SSR had parallel systems of Romanian-language and Russian-language education through secondary school, although Russian was seen as the key to advancement. In 1990 a total of 614 preschools were taught in Romanian, 1,333 were taught in Russian, and 373 were taught in both Romanian and Russian. There were 1,025 Romanianlanguage primary and secondary schools with 399,200 students; 420 Russian-language schools with 239,100 students; and 129 mixedlanguage schools with 82,500 students studying in the Russian and Romanian languages, with more than half of the students studying in Russian. Change occurred slowly at the university level, however, and 55 percent of students continued to study in the Russian language as of 1992. Under Moldova's education system, ten years of basic education are compulsory, followed by either technical school or further study leading to higher education. In the early 1990s, the Moldovan government restored the Romanian language in schools and added courses in Romanian literature and history to the curriculum. The governments of Romania and Moldova established strong ties between their education systems; several thousand Moldovan students attended school in Romania, and the Romanian government donated textbooks to Moldova to replace books from the Soviet era. As Moldovan society became more industrialized and more complex under the Soviet regime, the role of higher education also expanded (although ethnic Russian and Ukrainian students were given preference in university admissions during the Soviet era). Although there were only ten students per 10,000 population enrolled in institutions of higher education in 1940, this number increased to 120 per 10,000 population in 1992. In early 1995, Moldova had ten institutions of higher education; four of these institutions had been established since independence. The republic also maintained institutes of agriculture, economics, engineering, medicine, the arts, pedagogy, and physical education. **************** Health In July 1994, Moldova's population was estimated at 4,473,033, with an average annual growth rate of 0.38 percent. In 1992 the population's birth rate was 16.1 per 1,000 population (compared with Romania's fourteen per 1,000), the death rate was 10.2 per 1,000 (the same as Romania's), and the rate of natural population increase was 0.7 percent per year (0.9 percent for Romania) (see table 8, Appendix A). The instability that had occurred throughout the Soviet Union at the time of its dissolution had a significant impact on these figures. By 1992, the birth rate had fallen from 18.9 in 1989 to 16.1 per 1,000, mortality had increased from 9.2 in 1989 to 10.2 per 1,000, and the natural population increase had declined from 1.0 in 1989 to 0.6 percent per year. In 1992 the infant mortality rate was thirty-five per 1,000 live births (compared with Romania's twenty-two per 1,000 live births). In 1989 the size of the average Moldovan family was 3.4 persons. In 1991 about 28 percent of the population was under fifteen years of age, and almost 13 percent was over sixty-five years of age (see fig. 19). Life expectancy in 1994 was sixty-five years for males and seventy-two years for females. Although the Soviet government had built health care facilities in the Moldavian SSR, modern equipment and facilities were in short supply in the early 1990s. In 1990 there were 129 hospital beds and forty doctors per 10,000 inhabitants. The 1991 state budget allocated approximately 12 percent of the total budget to health care, most of which was provided to citizens free of charge. The leading causes of death in Moldova are cardiovascular diseases, cancer, respiratory diseases, and accidents. Other major health problems are high levels of alcohol consumption and illnesses resulting from the extensive and indiscriminate use of herbicides and pesticides (see Environmental Concerns , this ch.). ************** Welfare Although Moldavia's official standard of living had long been below the average for the Soviet Union, there were two mitigating factors. The rural character of the country accounted for many households receiving goods (mainly food) as well as cash wages. In addition, Moldavian industry was based on consumer goods (including textiles, consumer appliances, and processed agricultural goods), making them relatively plentiful throughout the republic (see table 10, Appendix A). The hostilities in Transnistria and the turmoil surrounding the demise of the Soviet Union were the major reasons for the falling standard of living in Moldova in the early 1990s. The outbreak of hostilities in Transnistria interrupted not only the flow of fuels and goods from former Soviet republics through Transnistria into right-bank Moldova but also cut off valuable inputs (for example, fertilizer) that were produced in Transnistria. These, in turn, indirectly affected such indicators as food consumption, a sign that everyday life was affected (see table 11, Appendix A). In 1991 Moldova set up the Social Assistance Fund (to provide assistance to the needy) and the Social Security Fund (SSF). The SSF is composed of the Pension Fund, the Social Insurance Fund, the Unemployment Fund, and the Reserve Fund. Funding for the SSF comes mainly from a payroll tax and from direct budget transfers. The Pension Fund includes old-age pensions (age fifty-five for women who have worked at least twenty years, and age sixty for men who have worked for twenty-five years), pensions for invalids, pensions for women who have raised three or more children, military and special merit pensions, and pensions for people of retirement age or for people who receive disability pensions yet continue to work. In early 1994, approximately 900,000 people (about 20 percent of the total population) received pensions. Legislation increased both benefits for dependent children and the minimum pension in 1992, and a law was passed to index benefits to inflation, but it had not been fully implemented by the end of the year. Many felt that passage of this law would add significantly to the demands on an already overburdened budget. ************** Housing Even before independence, much of Moldova's housing stock was in private hands because of the country's strong tradition of private home ownership, especially in rural areas. In 1994 some 90 percent of rural and 36 percent of urban apartments were held privately. At the time of Moldova's independence, housing construction was hampered by severe shortages of building materials and disruptions in deliveries. However, the housing stock continued to expand in both rural and urban areas. In 1990 private builders accounted for only 26 percent of construction in urban areas, but they accounted for 95 percent of construction in rural areas. In 1990 per capita housing space averaged eighteen square meters (fourteen square meters in urban areas and twenty-one square meters in rural areas). All state-owned housing was scheduled for privatization, in stages, beginning in May 1993 and using government-issued vouchers. Apartments that did not exceed state norms for per capita space utilization were to be turned over to their occupants free of charge. People living in apartments that exceeded space norms would have to pay the state a premium based on the average cost per meter of housing construction. Privatization using vouchers was scheduled to be completed in the summer of 1995, at which time there would be an open housing market (see Postindependence Privatization and Other Reforms , this ch.). ***************** THE ECONOMY Historically, the region now encompassed by the Republic of Moldova was poorly developed. Economic activity was principally agricultural, rural poverty was endemic, and the urban economy, such as it was, was based almost entirely on commerce, food processing, and the production of consumer goods. Development prior to the mid-eighteenth century lagged for a variety of reasons, but principally because of limited resources and political instability. The region of Moldova was relatively backward in comparison with the rest of Romania. ************** The Economy in the Soviet Period Under Soviet rule, the Moldavian ASSR (1924-40) experienced considerable industrial development between the two world wars, particularly in and around Tiraspol, the site of new manufacturing activity. After World War II, substantial industrialization occurred throughout the Moldavian SSR (1940- 91), especially in Chisinau, but with a continuing focus on Transnistria as well. In addition to further developing the foodprocessing industry, the government introduced the textile, machine tool, and electronics industries. Until independence, Moldova's economy was organized along standard Soviet lines: all industry was state owned, as were commerce and finance. Approximately one-third of all enterprises (see Glossary) were subordinate to the economic ministries of the Soviet Union, and two-thirds were subordinate to republic-level authorities. Agriculture was collectivized, and production was organized principally around state farms (see Glossary) and collective farms (see Glossary). The Moldavian economy, robust in the 1970s, slowed down somewhat in the early 1980s and contracted sharply in 1985, mainly as a result of declining activity in the wine sector, a casualty of Gorbachev's antialcohol campaign. In the late 1980s, the economy briefly regained strength and grew faster than the economy of the Soviet Union as a whole. *************** Postindependence Privatization and Other Reforms Once independence was achieved, Moldova's government undertook measures to begin privatization, which included passing a law mandating privatization and establishing the State Department for Privatization to direct the process. The overall reform policy was guided by "The Draft Economic Reform Program of the Government of Moldova," a 1991 document calling for establishment of a market economy but permitting significant provisions for government intervention. In late 1992, the government presented Parliament with a more market-oriented policy in its "Program of Activity of the Government of Moldova for 1992-1995." Its goal was to form a new social pact as a basis for a new society and economy for Moldova. The two-part program would first aim at stabilizing the country and then provide for the economy's recovery and growth by such means as agrarian and trade reform, social protection, and a legal framework for a market economy. The direction of the new government was elaborated in the "Program of Activity of the Government of the Republic of Moldova for 1994 to 1997," which was adopted by Parliament and which focuses on restructuring the economy, reorganizing enterprises, privatizing small and mediumsized enterprises, promoting entrepreneurship, decreasing the budget deficit, implementing an efficient fiscal policy, and formulating new mechanisms to create a market economy. Another bill, the "Program for Privatization for 1995-1996," was approved by Parliament in March 1995. It focuses on foreign investment, privatization of agricultural land, the introduction of cash auctions, mass privatization, and the development of capital markets. Over 1,450 state enterprises are to be auctioned off. During 1992 enterprise privatization committees inventoried assets at each enterprise in the republic; the aggregate result of this inventory became the basis of calculations of Moldova's total industrial wealth. Each citizen was to be provided with vouchers (or Patrimonial Bonds) in 1993, endowing him or her with a share of this total wealth based on years of employment in the economy. Citizens would receive one voucher point per year of work in the republic. Enterprise employees were to be allowed to purchase up to 30 percent of the value of their enterprises at nominal value. By special arrangement, 40 percent of the value of enterprises in the food-processing sector was to be allocated to suppliers. The program was to be completed by the summer of 1995. As of the beginning of 1995, Moldova had 4,400 state and 57,000 private enterprises. Employees of collective and state farms were also to be provided with vouchers based on the length of their employment in the agricultural sector. In January 1992, Moldova expanded the amount of free land that eligible families would receive from state farms to 0.5 hectare per family, with an additional 0.1 hectare to be added for fourth and subsequent family members up to a maximum of one hectare per family, on the condition that it not be resold before 2001 (although it could be bequeathed). Collective and state farms were to be converted into jointstock companies first, and the land and property were to be allocated later. In 1993 Moldova had 481 small private farms; by 1995 this number had increased to 13,958. In 1995 1.5 percent of agricultural land in Moldova was held by these small farmers. The reasons for slow privatization of the agricultural sector include slow privatization of large organizations, the use of outmoded production methods and equipment, poor accounting practices, and a shortage of processing facilities. At the same time that privatization plans were under way, actual reform efforts were halting and relatively ineffectual, and Moldova's economy declined. A number of factors contributed to the decline, including the complicated political situation in the republic (which had seen several changes of leadership in its first years of existence) and the political and military conflict with Transnistria. Substantial industrial capacity is located in Transnistria, and the disruption of traditional economic ties with enterprises there has had a negative effect on the economy of right-bank Moldova. Further, because Moldova's economy was firmly embedded in the broader economic structures of the former Soviet Union, it also suffered damage from the breakdown in interrepublic trade, abrupt increases in external prices, and inflation resulting from the Russian government's policy of printing large amounts of money. (Moldova retained the Russian ruble as its currency until November 1993.) The consequence of all these factors has been a substantial economic downturn in both industry and agriculture, accompanied by increased unemployment and a decline in labor productivity. In 1991 Moldova's national income was only at 1985 levels. Moldova's industrial output in early 1995 was half of the output of 1990. Moldova's gross domestic product (GDP--see Glossary) declined by 30 percent in 1994 (by 5 percent in 1993 and by 28 percent in 1992), and its industrial output declined by 34 percent (by 12 percent in 1993 and by 27 percent in 1992). **************** Labor Force Moldova's labor force still reflects the structure of the economy under communism. In 1991, 78 percent of the population employed outside the home worked in the state sector, 19 percent worked on collective farms, and 3 percent worked in the private sector. The private sector employed 9 percent of the workforce in 1995. In early 1995, the official unemployment rate was 1 percent, but experts put the real rate at between 10 and 15 percent. ***************** Agriculture Source: Based on information from International Monetary Fund, Moldova, Washington, 1993, 31. At the time of Moldova's independence, agriculture continued to play a major role in the country's economy, as it had during the Soviet period. In 1991 agriculture accounted for 42 percent of the net material product (NMP--see Glossary) and employed 36 percent of the labor force (see fig. 21). The organizational backbone of independent Moldova's agriculture continues to be its system of former state and collective farms, one-quarter of which were transformed into joint-stock companies by 1994 and are now owned in shares by the people who work them. In 1993 Moldova's 600 collective farms covered 16.2 million hectares of land and employed 401,300 persons; in the same year, its 389 state farms encompassed 600,500 hectares of land and employed 168,200 persons. Agricultural output from private farms increased from 18 percent in 1990 to 38 percent in 1994. Moldova possesses substantial agricultural resources; its climate and fertile soils (1.7 million hectares of arable land in 1991) support a wide range of crops. The country is an important regional producer of grapes and grape products, and its orchards produce significant amounts of fruit, including plums, apricots, cherries, and peaches. Fruit production is concentrated in the north, in the central region, and in the Nistru River area. Tobacco is also an important commercial crop. Sugar beets are grown throughout the republic and provide raw material for a substantial (although antiquated) sugar-refining industry, and sunflowers are grown for their oil. Cereal crops, including wheat, are grown widely (corn is the leading grain) and are used for domestic consumption, export, and animal feed. Meat accounts for less than half of total agricultural production. In 1991 about half of total meat output was accounted for by pork (145,000 tons), followed by beef and veal (97,000 tons), chicken (56,000 tons), and lamb (5,000 tons). From 1990 to 1994, the amount of arable land used for livestock production decreased by some 25 percent; the number of livestock in 1994 was 400,000. Probably the most widely known products of Moldova are its wines, sparkling wines, and brandies, which were recognized as among the finest in the former Soviet Union. In 1991 these accounted for 28 percent of the output of the food-processing sector, followed by meat processing with 22 percent of production and fruit and vegetable processing (including the production of canned fruits and vegetables, jams, jellies, and fruit juices) with 15 percent. Moldova also produces sugar and sugar products, perfume, vegetable oils, and dairy products. Approximately half of Moldova's agricultural and food production is sold to former Soviet republics. Traditional markets are Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. Agricultural production has been in serious decline since the late 1980s, both in terms of overall production levels and in terms of per-hectare production of most crops (see table 12, Appendix A). Overall agricultural output in 1991 was at 1970 levels. A number of factors contributed to the decline, including difficulties in providing necessary inputs and agricultural machinery, disruption of the transportation system, failures in the incentive system, difficulties related to political instability in Transnistria, Gorbachev's anti-alcohol campaign, and, not the least, Moldova's variable weather. In 1990 a drought resulted in a serious decline in production. On the heels of the drought, 1991 saw a spring freeze, severe summer flooding, and then the worst drought in some fifty years. Overall agricultural output in 1993 was down 15 percent from the previous year; grain production, one-third less than in 1991, was particularly affected (especially corn, which was down over 50 percent on average). The trend continued into 1994 when drought and storms with hurricane-force winds caused agricultural output to decline 58 percent from 1993 levels. Although Moldova was traditionally a wheat exporter, it had to import 100,000 to 200,000 tons of wheat as a result of a 1994 harvest that was 800,000 tons less than the harvest of 1993. In fiscal year (FY--see Glossary) 1992, Moldova participated in the United States Department of Agriculture's P.L. 480 Title I program, which provided US$7 million in long-term credit for government-to-government concessional sales, offered repayment terms of ten to thirty years (with grace periods of up to seven years), and provided low interest rates. Moldova's line of credit was scheduled to increase to US$10 million in 1993. By the beginning of 1994, total United States assistance to Moldova included approximately US$12 million in technical assistance, in support of Moldova's transition to a market economy and democracy, and US$68 million in humanitarian assistance. In 1995 the United States was scheduled to provide US$22 million in technical assistance for economic restructuring and privatization. This amount brings total United States assistance to Moldova since 1992 to more than US$200 million. ************* Industry In 1991 industry accounted for approximately 38 percent of the NMP and employed 21 percent of the work force. Some of the main products of Moldova's industry include electrical motors and equipment, pumps for industrial and agricultural use, and agricultural equipment, including tractors and automobile parts. There is also a small chemical industry, which produces plastics, synthetic fibers, paint, and varnish, and a construction industry, which produces cement and prefabricated reinforcedconcrete structures. The Moldovan consumer goods industry in the early 1990s was faced with the same problems affecting the rest of the Moldovan economy. The supply of cheap fuels and raw materials, provided to Moldavia under the Soviet economic system (under which Moldavia specialized in consumer goods and agricultural products), dried up with the demise of the Soviet Union and the hostilities in Transnistria. Together with high inflation, the cost of goods went up tremendously, sometimes doubling in the course of one year. In 1991 consumer goods accounted for 22 percent of Moldova's industrial output; the textile industry accounted for approximately 50 percent of this, and food processing accounted for 40 percent. Clothing manufacturing made up another 29 percent of total production. In 1994 Moldova had eleven military-goods producing enterprises. Attempts were being made to convert ten of them to civilian production. However, these facilities were operating at only 15 to 20 percent of capacity, as compared with the industrywide average of 40 percent of capacity. As a result, conversion prospects were not bright. Moldova's heavy industry is almost entirely the product of development during the Soviet period. Machine building predominates within heavy industry, accounting for 16 percent of total industrial production. ********** Energy and Fuels Among the most pressing difficulties facing the republic's economy is a near total lack of energy resources. Moldova's own primary energy sources consist of small hydroelectric power plants on the Nistru River at Dubasari and Camenca (Kamenka, in Russian); minor thermal electric power plants at Balti, Rîbnita (Rybnitsa, in Russian), Ungheni (Ungeny, in Russian), and Chisinau; and firewood, all of which combine to meet only 1 percent of domestic needs. A coal-fired power plant was under construction at Cuciurgan (Kuchurgan, in Russian), in Transnistria, in 1995. Another source of problems is the fact that almost 90 percent of power and 100 percent of power transformers are produced in politically troubled Transnistria. In addition, Transnistria's adversarial "government" has frequently disrupted the flow of fuels into Moldova from Russia and Ukraine. Moldova has an electric power production capacity of 3.1 million kilowatts, and it produced 11.1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 1993. By 1994 electricity production had decreased 14 percent in comparison with 1993. Over the same period, thermal electric production decreased 22 percent. Despite its lack of energy resources, the country continues to export some of the electricity it generates to Romania and Bulgaria. However, these exports have been cut back (the countries receive electricity only to the extent to which they supply fuel). Some electricity shortages have occurred in Moldova, mostly in winter, and have been dealt with by rationing. Much of the country's generating equipment (which is not produced by Moldova) and approximately one-quarter of its transmission and distribution lines are in need of repair. In the early 1990s, energy shortages were prevalent, and energy availability was sporadic, leading to disruptions in economic activity; imports of coal, natural gas, diesel fuel, and gasoline declined by an estimated average of 40 percent from 1991 to 1992. In 1994 the picture was somewhat different. Gasoline imports were up 33.6 percent and coal imports increased 15.4 percent, while imports of diesel fuel, mazut, and natural gas fell 25 percent, 51.5 percent, and 3.1 percent, respectively. In 1994 Moldavia was dependent on Russia for 90 percent of the fuel needed for its electric-power generation plants: diesel oil (88,000 tons), gasoline (65,000 tons), fuel oil (365,000 tons), and natural gas (2.8 billion cubic meters). By March 1995, Moldova owed Russia US$232 million for fuel, with half of this amount owed by the "Dnestr Republic." Moldova had started paying off this debt in goods, including agricultural products, but beginning in late 1994 the government paid these debts by giving Gazprom, the Russian state-controlled gas company, equity stakes in key Moldovan enterprises. In January 1995, Moldova gave control of Moldovagas, the state-owned gas company, to Gazprom. ************ Banking and Finance Moldova's banking system, part of the Soviet system during the communist era, underwent major changes in 1991. The National Bank of Moldova (NBM), established in June 1991 and modeled on the Bank of Romania, is subordinate to Parliament. It has an extensive set of monetary policy instruments (such as maximum lending rates and reserve requirements) and is legally responsible for bank supervision. However, shortages of trained staff and a lack of experience in making and executing monetary policy caused the NBM difficulties in its early years. In 1995 Moldova's banking system was composed of the NBM and twenty-six private, joint-stock commercial banks, including the Joint Bank for Export and Import (Banca Mixta Pentru Export i Import). In 1995 the largest commercial banks were Moldindconbanc, Banca de Economii, Banca Sociala, Agroindbanc, Victoriabanc, and Interprinzbanca. The banking system also includes four branches of foreign (Romanian and Russian) banks. After Russia enacted economic reform measures in January 1992, Moldova liberalized prices for most of its commodities (except bread, milk, energy, utilities, and transportation) and raised other prices by 200 to 425 percent. Price controls were eliminated gradually, with none left after May 1994. In early 1995, the average monthly rate of consumer inflation was estimated at under 5 percent. This represented a major improvement, as the annual inflation rate had been 105 percent in 1994, 415 percent in 1993, and a staggering 1,500 percent in 1992. In the early years of its independence, Moldova used both the Russian ruble and the Moldovan coupon (issued only to residents of Moldova) as its currencies. The leu (for value of the leu--see Glossary) was introduced in November 1993 to replace these currencies and to escape the inflation in other former Soviet republics. It has remained reasonably stable against major hard currencies despite the country's high rates of inflation. ********** Transportation and Telecommunications In 1995 the main means of transportation in Moldova were railroads (1,150 kilometers) and a highway system (20,100 kilometers overall, including 14,000 kilometers of paved surfaces) (see fig. 22). The major railroad junctions are Chisinau, Bender, Ungheni, Ocnita (Oknitsa, in Russian), Balti, and Basarabeasca (Bessarabka, in Russian). Primary external rail links connect the republic's network with Odesa (in Ukraine) on the Black Sea and with the Romanian cities of Iasi and Galati; they also lead northward into Ukraine. Highways link Moldova's main cities and provide the chief means of transportation within the country, but roads are in poor repair, and gasoline shortages make interurban motor transportation difficult. The country's major airport is in Chisinau. Shipping is possible on the lower Prut and Nistru rivers, but water transportation plays only a modest role in the country's transportation system. In 1990 a total of 317 million tonkilometers of freight were carried on inland waterways as compared with 15,007 million ton-kilometers on railroads and 1,673 million ton-kilometers on roads (see table 13, Appendix A). The movement of manufactured goods and of passengers on all means of transportation started to decline in 1989. From 1993 to 1994, for example, the total amount of transported goods fell by 31 percent, passenger traffic decreased by 28 percent, and the number of passengers declined by 24 percent. The main causes for these declines are the high cost of transportation, a lack of fuels, and the poor state of Moldova's transportation infrastructure: approximately 20 percent of Moldova's roads are considered in a critical technical state. Moldova's telecommunications facilities are poor, but they were being upgraded in 1995. In 1990 Moldova had an average of twelve telephones per 100 inhabitants (heavily concentrated in urban areas), and there were more than 200,000 unfilled orders for telephone installation. In 1994 Moldova installed 23,800 telephone lines, which included public phones with direct international dialing capabilities. Some 10,000 digital lines in Chisinau were upgraded by a German company. In 1994 a new company in Chisinau, a joint venture with partners from Greece and Italy, was soon to produce automatic telephone exchanges at the rate of 50,000 lines a year. Moldova is connected to Ukraine by landline and is also now linked to countries outside the former Soviet Union via Bucharest rather than via the switching center in Moscow, as had previously been the case. As of 1993, three television channels were widely available in Moldova: Moldova's two national channels (Radioteleviziunea Nationala), Romanian state television (Televiziunea Româna), and Russian state television (Ostankino Kanal 1). Radioteleviziunea Nationala's daily fifteen hours of broadcasting included five hours of Russian-language broadcasts. Broadcasting in other minority languages was more limited: Ukrainian (three hours per month), Gagauz (three hours per month), Bulgarian (three hours per month), and Hebrew and Yiddish (1.5 hours per month for both together). Televiziunea Româna broadcast fifteen hours per day, and TV Ostankino broadcast nineteen hours per day. In 1995 there was one independent television station in Chisinau (whose coverage included most of the republic). In 1993 nine AM radio stations were reported broadcasting, in four cities: four in Grigoriopol (Grigoriopol', in Russian), three in Chisinau, one in Cahul (Kagul, in Russian), and one in Edinet (Yedintsy, in Russian). Separatists in the self-proclaimed "Dnestr Republic" had taken over the radio facility in Grigoriopol and broadcast on two of the AM frequencies. The cities of Balti, Cahul, Edinet, Straseni (Strasheny, in Russian), and Ungheni each had one FM radio station broadcasting on the same frequencies used when Moldova was part of the Soviet Union. Plans for international shortwave radio service were delayed because of the loss of the Grigoriopol facility to the separatists. Several private radio stations operated in Moldova in 1995. At least one of these was funded by an American Christian group. The others broadcast music, mostly for young people. ************ Foreign Trade Within the Soviet economy, Moldova was an importer of industrial raw materials, fossil fuels, and manufactured goods. Its primary exports to other Soviet republics included wine and spirits, processed foods, clothing and textiles, and small amounts of electrical equipment. Since independence, Moldova has struggled to reorganize its domestic economy and at the same time to reorient its foreign trade, finding new markets for its products and new sources for the essential imports it traditionally obtained from the Soviet Union. In 1991, however, 73 percent of Moldova's imports and 96 percent of its exports were still directed toward territories of the former Soviet Union. In addition, Moldova had a surplus of 572 million rubles in its trade with the former Soviet republics but a deficit of 875 million rubles in its trade with the rest of the world. This disparity clearly suggested the difficulty Moldova faced in restructuring its trade relationships, given that in 1994, 73 percent of Moldova's foreign trade was with other members of the CIS, and only 27 percent was with the West. In 1994 exports totaled 2,397 million lei (US$580 million), up 20 percent from 1993, and imports totaled 2,704 million lei (US$662 million), down 12 percent from 1993, resulting in a trade deficit of 307 million lei. By 1992 Moldova had established joint ventures with Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Vietnam, and the United States, and it had signed bilateral trade agreements with China, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Serbia and Montenegro, and ten of the former Soviet republics. In 1995 Moldova's major CIS trading partners were Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, and its major non-CIS trading partners were Romania, Germany, the United States, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Italy. Barter accounted for over 41 percent of Moldova's total volume of foreign trade in 1994. By the end of 1992, the United States government had signed several agreements with Moldova and had granted Moldova most-favored-nation status (see Glossary). A bilateral investment treaty was signed with the Moldovan government in April 1993. The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) had signed a bilateral agreement with Moldova authorizing OPIC to provide loans, loan guarantees, and investment insurance to United States companies investing in Moldova. As of September 1994, 314 joint ventures had been established (partners included more than fifty from Romania, more than thirty from the United States, twentyfive from Germany, and twenty from Bulgaria), but only one-third are operational. Joint ventures account for only 2.3 percent of Moldova's industrial output and substantially less than 1 percent of Moldova's employment. In 1992 Moldova became a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF--see Glossary) and the World Bank (see Glossary), making it eligible to receive financing for capital infrastructure projects. (The Moldovan government consulted with the IMF on a plan of economic reform that year and immediately implemented a number of reform measures.) Moldova and United States companies investing in Moldova are also eligible to receive loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which emphasizes programs and activities that support privatization, financial reform, industrial restructuring, the creation and strengthening of infrastructure, inflows of foreign investment, and environmental remediation. In addition, the Moldovan government has signed the Group of Seven (see Glossary) external debt agreement; its share of the external debt of the former Soviet Union was determined to be US$1.7 billion. An agreement was signed in 1993 by Moldova and Russia transferring this debt to Russia and renouncing any claims by Moldova on properties of the former Soviet Union. In November 1994, Moldova signed a partnership and cooperation agreement with the European Union (EU). In 1992 the Moldovan parliament adopted the Law on Foreign Investment (later amended in July 1994). This law was developed in cooperation with representatives of foreign enterprises and the World Bank and is recognized as the best of all such laws in countries belonging to the CIS. Together with changes in the tax law, the Law on Foreign Investment has made Moldova a much easier place for foreign companies to do business. By 1995 the government of Moldova had relaxed most of its restrictions on the country's foreign trade. Importers and exporters no longer had to be registered, but export licenses were still needed for certain goods, such as grains, energy resources, animal hides, and special products (including arms, precious metals, and chemical products). ************** GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS On August 27, 1991, the Republic of Moldova declared its independence from the Soviet Union and became a sovereign state, an act that consummated the process of escalating political selfassertion under way since 1988. Behind this phenomenon were glasnost and perestroika, the general movement toward reform initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s. Gorbachev's more permissive approach to political life in the Moldavian SSR enabled Moldovan nationalists to participate in the campaign for election to the Soviet Union's Congress of Peoples'Deputies (see Glossary) in 1989 and to form the Moldovan Popular Front. On February 25, 1990, the first democratic elections for the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR resulted in a Popular Front majority. In May 1991, the country changed its name from the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova to the Republic of Moldova. The name of the Supreme Soviet was changed to the Moldovan Parliament. On August 27, 1991 (now Independence Day), it declared Moldova's complete independence. This pursuit of independence by Moldova's government put it increasingly at odds with Moscow and at the same time led to growing tensions between the ethnic Romanian majority and the non-Romanian minorities in the republic. Those tensions soon led to sporadic violence throughout the first half of 1992 until a cease-fire agreement was negotiated by presidents Snegur and Yeltsin in July. The conditions for withdrawing the Russian 14th Army were negotiated and were dependent on constitutional provisions that were to be made after the parliamentary elections of early 1994. On February 27, 1994, parliamentary elections were held. In the elections, the Democratic Agrarian Party of Moldova won a majority, marking a turning point for Moldovan politics. The new Parliament was able to make compromises between ethnic Romanians and ethnic Slavs, thus enabling it to pass legislation and set a more moderate tone for governing the country. Without a majority of Popular Front extreme nationalists in Parliament, a solution to the problem of Transnistria began to be more than just a futile hope. ************ Governmental System On July 28, 1994, the Moldovan Parliament approved a new constitution, declaring Moldova a republic, which went into effect August 27, 1994. Moldova's previous constitution was that of the old Moldavian SSR (1979), with amendments. The new document defines Moldova as an independent, democratic, "single" state and declares the country's permanent neutrality. The Moldovan language, written in the Latin script, is designated as the official language, but guarantees are made for the use of Russian and other languages. The new constitution includes a ban on the stationing of foreign troops on Moldova's territory. ************** Parliament Moldova is a democracy with a unicameral legislature, the Moldovan Parliament, previously called the Supreme Soviet (see fig. 23). Following the earlier Soviet model, the Moldovan Parliament maintains a Presidium, which performs legislative functions when the larger body is not in session. Parliament has 104 members elected by universal suffrage for a four-year term. Any citizen eligible to vote (eighteen years of age and not prohibited by law) is eligible for election to the Parliament. The next parliamentary elections will be held in 1998. Parliament ordinarily meets in two sessions per year. The first session starts in February and may not go beyond the end of July. The second session starts in September and may not go beyond the end of December. Parliamentary leadership consists of a chair and two deputy chairs elected by the delegates. The work of Parliament is carried out by fifteen permanent committees, which have purview in the following areas: agriculture and rural social development, crime prevention, culture and religion, ecology, the economy and the budget, foreign affairs, health and social assistance, human rights and relations among nationalities, law, legislative ethics, local administration and the local economy, public relations and the mass media, science and education, state security and military affairs, and women and family issues. ************* The Presidency Moldova's head of state is the president of the republic, who shares executive power with the Council of Ministers. Under constitutional arrangements prevailing at the time of the 1990 national elections, the president was elected by members of the Supreme Soviet, but provisions introduced in 1991 called for the president's direct election by all members of the population over eighteen years of age. The president, who must be over thirtyfive years old, a resident of Moldova for at least ten years, and a speaker of the state language, is elected to a four-year term of office. The next election is set for December 1995. In early 1995, the president was Mircea Snegur, named president by the Supreme Soviet in September 1990 and confirmed by popular election in December 1991. The president's duties include nominating the prime minister and members of the Council of Ministers, taking part in Parliament's proceedings and debates, dissolving Parliament under certain conditions, negotiating and concluding international treaties, serving as commander in chief of the armed forces, granting political asylum, and iniating national referendums. ************* Council of Ministers The activities of the government are directed by the cabinet, or Council of Ministers, headed by the prime minister and the first deputy prime minister. In early 1995, the prime minister was Andrei Sangheli, appointed in July 1992 and reappointed in March 1994. Candidates for the Council of Ministers are nominated by the president (on the prime minister's recommendation) and must be confirmed by Parliament before taking office. In 1995 there were eighteen ministries: agriculture and food, commercial services and housing, culture, defense, economy, education, finance, foreign affairs, health, industry, information and communication, interior, justice, labor and social and family protection, national security, parliamentary relations, privatization and administration of state property, and transportation and road assistance. In addition to these ministries, the government has state departments subordinate to the Council of Ministers. In 1995 there were nine state departments: architecture and construction; customs control; energy, energy resources, and fuel; environmental protection; national relations; standards, metrology, and technical assistance; statistics; trade; and youth and sports. *************** The Judicial System Independent Moldova's judicial and legal systems are carryovers from the Soviet period and conform to practices that were standard throughout the former Soviet Union. The most powerful legal institution is the General Prosecution Office, formerly called the Procuracy (see Glossary). Headed by the prosecutor general, the General Prosecution Office directs investigations, orders arrests, and prosecutes criminal cases. It is also charged with administering the judicial system and ensuring the legality of government actions. In the early 1990s, the Procuracy's corruption and political ties to the Communist Party of Moldavia made it the subject of substantial controversy in discussions on constitutional reform. A significant element of political opinion advocated the abolition of or the radical transformation of the Procuracy. Moldova's judicial system is based on a network of local courts and higher-level appeals courts, with the highest court being the Supreme Court (Curte Suprema). Judges do not have a tradition of political impartiality and independence, and the role of defense attorneys is limited. The government of Moldova has initiated reform efforts, but corruption and a lack of organization continue to plague the legal system. Many former Soviet-era judges and chief prosecutors were replaced in 1990 and 1991 during a parliamentary review, but an independent judiciary was still not realized. The system was being reviewed in 1995. **************** Local Government Below the central government, Moldova is divided administratively into forty raioane (sing., raion; rayon/rayony, in Russian; see Glossary), as in the Soviet period (see fig. 23). Each raion is governed by a locally elected council. Raion councils elect executive committees from among their members. The heads of these executive committees are the chief executive officers of the raioane. City and village governments are organized much like the raion- level governments. In addition to the raioane, Chisinau (the national capital), Balti, Bender, and Tiraspol are designated municipalities and are directly subordinate to the national government. In 1991 the national government began work on an administrative reorganization intended to alter this structure and to reintroduce a system of counties (judete), communes, and villages similar to the one that had been in effect during the interwar period, and one that was still in use in Romania. Under the new system, the counties would consolidate functions carried out by the smaller raioane, and local executives would be elected directly. However, this effort was stalled by the secession of Transnistria and the declaration of sovereignty by the Gagauz region, and the Parliament elected in 1994 put the matter aside. ************* Political Parties In 1993 more than twenty political parties and movements were registered in Moldova. Until 1990 the Communist Party of Moldavia (CPM) was the dominant political force in the republic. It had controlled the administrative, economic, and cultural affairs of the Moldavian SSR from its establishment until 1990. During that period, CPM officials monopolized virtually all politically significant government positions. However, once democratic elections were decided upon, the party's power disintegrated swiftly. The CPM was formally banned in August 1991, following the abortive August coup d'état against Soviet president Gorbachev, but former communists continue to participate actively in politics through their membership in a variety of successor organizations. In the wake of the 1990 elections, the Moldovan Popular Front, founded in 1989 and consisting of an association of independent cultural and political groups, moved into a commanding position in the country's political life. It emerged as an advocate of increased autonomy from the Soviet Union and of the rights of the Moldavian SSR's ethnic Romanian population. Popular Front delegates were able to dominate proceedings in the Supreme Soviet and to select a government made up of individuals who supported its agenda. The Popular Front was well organized nationally, with its strongest support in the capital and in areas of the country most heavily populated by ethnic Romanians. Once the organization was in power, however, internal disputes led to a sharp fall in popular support, and it fragmented into several competing factions by early 1993. In February 1993, the Popular Front was reformed as the Christian Democratic Popular Front (CDPF). Several other parties, primarily composed of ethnic Romanians, were organized after 1990. The largest and most influential of these ethnically based parties is the Democratic Agrarian Party of Moldova, which is a coalition of former communists and moderate to status-quo supporters of Moldovan statehood and closer economic ties with Russia. The party's support comes mainly from the rural populace, economic conservatives, and ethnic minorities opposed to reunification with Romania. The Democratic Agrarian Party of Moldova won a majority of the votes in the 1994 parliamentary election. A much smaller but still influential political group is the Social Democratic Party of Moldova. Most of the Social Democrats' leaders originally participated in the Popular Front but later formed their own organization in response to what they perceived as the increasingly nationalistic position of that party. The Social Democrats are multiethnic, and their constituency consists mainly of educated professional and managerial groups. Their support is strongest in the republic's capital. Another independent formation committed to promoting a less nationalistic agenda for the republic, the Democratic Party for the Rebirth and Prosperity of Moldova (PDRPM), was formed in late 1990. The PDRPM draws its support primarily from among ethnic Romanian intellectuals and is active primarily in the capital. At the other extreme of the political spectrum is the National Christian Party (NCP). The NCP is more expressly nationalistic than the Popular Front and its other competitors-- Congress of the Intelligentsia (which is a component of the Congress of Peasants and Intellectuals, a bloc in the 1994 elections), the Democratic Party, and the Democratic Labor Party- -and it campaigned openly for reunification with Romania during the 1994 election. Other parties active in the 1994 campaign for the Parliament were the Reform Party, the Yedinstvo/Socialist Bloc, the Republican Party, the Democratic Labor Party, the Green Alliance, the Women's Association of Moldova, and the Victims of Totalitarian Repression. In late 1993, former Prime Minister Valeriu Muravschi, along with several other leading members of Parliament unhappy with the direction of policy under the existing government, formed yet another party, the Socialist Workers' Party, in order to counter what they saw as the excessively conservative influence of the Democratic Agrarian Party of Moldova. Non-Romanian ethnic communities have also formed political organizations representing their interests. In the early transition period, the most influential of these was the Yedinstvo-Unitatea Intermovement. Yedinstvo, whose members include not only Russians but also Ukrainians, Bulgarians, and other Russian-speaking residents of the republic, is politically conservative in its support of the pre-1990 status quo. Based primarily in Transnistria, it is strongly pro-Russian. In Parliament, its positions are represented by the Conciliere legislative club. Yedinstvo emerged in 1988 from the mobilization of Russianspeaking workers responding to efforts to alter the republic's language laws and demote the status of the Russian language. During the transition period, Yedinstvo was the most effective and influential minority nationalist organization. Its representatives walked out of the first session of the democratically elected Moldavian Supreme Soviet in 1990. In local elections, its adherents won control over local and raion governments throughout Transnistria. Gagauz Halkî (Gagauz People) is a second pivotal minority political group, formed to represent Moldova's population of approximately 153,000 Gagauz. Like the Russian-speaking community in Transnistria, with whom they had been close political allies, Gagauz nationalists gained control over local government in the five southern raioane, where their numbers continue to be concentrated. Like the Transnistrians, the Gagauz declared themselves sovereign in 1990. ************** The 1990 Elections The first democratic elections for the Supreme Soviet were held in February and March 1990. Delegates were elected for terms of four years in 380 single-member electoral districts (by early 1993 this number had decreased to 332 following removals and resignations). Electoral rules called for candidates to be nominated by electoral districts rather than by "social organizations," as had been the practice previously. Meetings of work collectives of 100 persons and residents' meetings of fifty or more persons were empowered to nominate candidates. In order to be elected, candidates had to receive more than 50 percent of the votes cast in an electoral district. When there was no victor in the first round of elections, the two candidates with the highest number of votes competed against each other in a second round. In 1990 the republic was divided by the secession of separatist regions and by the outbreak of widespread fighting in Transnistria. At the same time, economic crisis loomed, a result of the collapse of the economic institutions of the Soviet Union. The Moldovan government pursued reforms to address this crisis, but progress toward a market economy was slow, partly as a result of the government's preoccupation with the conflicts among the ethnic groups and partly because of resistance to reform on the part of those with vested interests in the communist system. In contrast to the artificial quiescence that characterized previous contests, the 1990 elections saw considerable controversy. While national CPM officials, including then-First Secretary Petru Lucinschi, promoted open access to the political process, local communist officials in many areas used traditional means to retain power. Reformers complained that local electoral commissions were controlled by "enemies of restructuring" and that the administrative apparatus was being used to subvert the nominating process. Just as important in determining the outcome of the election as bureaucratic resistance, however, was the Popular Front's organizational weakness in many localities outside the capital, especially in comparison with the local strength of the CPM's rural party apparatus. Despite these difficulties, Popular Frontapproved candidates were on the ballot in 219 out of Moldova's 380 electoral districts by the February 25 election date. Meanwhile, the CPM, enjoying a rebound in popularity and effectiveness under Lucinschi's direction, accounted for 86 percent of all candidates. A high degree of cooperation between the Popular Front and reformers within the CPM hierarchy was also evident during the early transition period. On February 11, 1990, the Popular Front, with the support of government authorities, had organized a "Republic's Voters Meeting" in Chisinau. This was attended by more than 100,000 people and was addressed by Lucinschi and other high-level communist officials. Among the candidates supported by the Popular Front one could find the names of ranking CPM members such as Mircea Snegur. A Central Committee secretary since 1985, Snegur was appointed chairman of the Presidium of the Moldavian Supreme Soviet by the staunchly antireform CPM leader Simion Grossu in July 1989. By early 1990, however, Snegur had realigned himself with the Popular Front and its political program. The results of the first round of elections in February confirmed the main trends that had appeared during the nominating process. Competitive races were held in 373 of the 380 districts, and turnout was 84 percent of the electorate. In the 140 contests decided without a runoff, reformers claimed victory for fiftynine of the candidates, although 115 of the total elected were CPM members (some of whom were supported by the Popular Front). As during the nominating phase, reformers alleged that significant violations of the election law had occurred, despite the Central Electoral Commission's finding of no major infractions. The second round of elections, held on March 10, 1990, filled the bulk of positions in the republic's Supreme Soviet and had a decisive impact on the country's political life. A fall in turnout for the second round, to 75 percent of the electorate, appears to have hurt the performance of the Popular Front, which won in only forty-two out of 237 districts, a considerably weaker showing than in the February contest. With the conclusion of the runoff, 305 of the deputies to the new Supreme Soviet were CPM members; 101 of the Supreme Soviet deputies were selected from the list supported by the Popular Front. With the support of deputies sympathetic to its views, however, the Popular Front could control more than half of the votes in the new Supreme Soviet. ************** Political Developments in the Wake of the 1990 Elections As the political influence of the Popular Front increased in the wake of the elections, the powerful faction of Romanian nationalists within the organization became increasingly vocal in the pursuit of their agenda. The nationalists argued that the Popular Front should immediately use its majority in the Supreme Soviet to attain independence from Russian domination, end migration into the republic, and improve the status of ethnic Romanians. Yedinstvo and its supporters within the Supreme Soviet argued against independence from the Soviet Union, against implementation of the August 1989 Law on State Language (making Moldovan written in the Latin alphabet the country's official language), and for increased autonomy for minority areas. Hence, clashes occurred almost immediately once the new Supreme Soviet began its inaugural session in April 1990. Popular Front representatives, for example, entered a motion to rename the Supreme Soviet the National Council (Sfatul Tarii, the name of the 1917 legislature), which, they argued was in keeping with national tradition. Although this motion failed, it provoked an acerbic public exchange among the deputies, which made subsequent cooperation difficult at best. A second controversial motion, on establishing a Moldovan flag (three equal vertical stripes of bright blue, yellow, and red, like the Romanian flag, but with Moldova's coat of arms in the center), passed in the Supreme Soviet but was widely and conspicuously disregarded by its opponents. The selection of a new legislative leadership also provoked political confrontation. Those appointed to high-level posts were overwhelmingly ethnic Romanians, a situation that left minority activists little hope that their interests would be effectively represented in deliberations on key issues. Ethnic Romanians accounted for only 70 percent of the Supreme Soviet as a whole but for 83 percent of the leadership. All five of the top positions in the Supreme Soviet were held by ethnic Romanians, as were eighteen of twenty positions in the new Council of Ministers. Faced with what they considered a concerted effort by ethnic Romanian nationalists to dominate the republic, conservatives and minority activists banded together and began to resist majority initiatives. Organized in the Supreme Soviet as the Soviet Moldavia (Sovetskaya Moldaviya) faction, the antireformers became increasingly inflexible. As confrontation grew among legislative leaders, initiatives undertaken at the local level drew the republic into worsening interethnic conflict. In the minority regions, local forces actively resisted what they considered to be discriminatory legislation from Chisinau. May Day celebrations in Tiraspol became mass protests against the republic's Supreme Soviet. The Tiraspol, Bender, and Rîbnita city councils, as well as the Rîbnita raion council, each passed measures suspending application of the flag law in their territories. Deputies from Tiraspol and Bender, unable to block legislation they considered inimical to their interests, announced their intention to withdraw from the Supreme Soviet. Pro-Popular Front demonstrators outside the Supreme Soviet responded to what they perceived as the obstructionism of minority legislators by becoming increasingly hostile. Following a series of confrontations in the capital, a leading legislative representative of Yedinstvo was badly beaten; 100 deputies associated with the Russian-speaking Soviet Moldavia faction withdrew from the Supreme Soviet on May 24, 1990. A new reformist government, with Mircea Druc as chairman of the Council of Ministers, took over that same day after the previous government suffered a vote of no confidence. The many changes wrought by this government included a ban on the CPM, a ban on political parties becoming in effect synonymous with the government, and the outlawing of government censorship. In June 1990, the country changed its name from the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic to the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova and declared its sovereignty. Increasing strain between nationalists and their opponents had become apparent since the opening session of the Supreme Soviet. In the culmination of this trend, delegates to the second congress of the Popular Front passed measures signaling a clear break with the CPM and took an openly nationalistic direction. The Popular Front's new program called for the country to be renamed the Romanian Republic of Moldova, for its citizens to be called "Romanians," and for the Romanian language to be designated the language of the republic. The program also called for the return of ethnic Romanian-inhabited areas transferred to Ukraine when the Moldavian SSR was formed and for the withdrawal of Soviet forces. The Popular Front's promotion of this agenda, which was perceived by minority populations to be expressly nationalistic in character, inexorably fractionalized the population. Many of Moldova's ethnic Romanians also perceived the Popular Front as extremist, excessively pro-Romanian, and ineffectual. The opposition was able to bring the public's general dissatisfaction with the Popular Front into focus and eventually bring about a reversal in the political fortunes of the Popular Front. ************* Conflict in Transnistria and Gagauzia As the summer of 1990 advanced, the country's initially inchoate political divisions transformed themselves into competing governmental authorities. Delegates to city and raion councils in Transnistria and in the Gagauz region met independently with their Supreme Soviet delegates and called for regional autonomy. Republic-level officials denounced these efforts as separatist and treasonable. As efforts to reach some form of accord foundered, more decisive measures were taken. On August 21, 1990, the Gagauz announced the formation of the "Gagauz Republic" in the five southern raioane where their population was concentrated, separate from the Moldavian SSR and part of the Soviet Union. The Transnistrians followed suit on September 2, proclaiming the formation of the "Dnestr Moldavian Republic," with its capital at Tiraspol, as a part of the Soviet Union. It was under these circumstances that violence broke out in the fall of 1990. A decision by Gagauz leaders to hold a referendum on the question of local sovereignty was intensely opposed by the republic's government and by the Popular Front. Rival political forces mobilized volunteer detachments to defend their competing interests by force. Adding to the volatility of the conflict between the Gagauz and the ethnic Romanians, militia forces from Transnistria entered the Gagauz region to support the sovereignty movement there. In the Transnistrian city of Dubasari, the militia seized the city council building as part of its preparations for a referendum on autonomy in the region. When the republic's police sought to retake the building, new forces were mobilized from ethnic Romanian regions as well as from Russian-speaking regions. In the ensuing conflict, three persons were killed and dozens more wounded. Relations between the separatists and the republic's government were characterized by mutual denunciations and sporadic violence from late 1990 until early 1992, when conditions took a sharp turn for the worse. As efforts among Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, and Romania to mediate the conflict floundered and as the Transnistrian separatists consolidated their position with the support of Russia's 14th Army, pressure built on President Snegur to take decisive action to resolve the conflict. In late March 1992, Snegur declared a state of emergency across the republic, and soon afterward the government made an effort to disarm the separatists' militia. These efforts were met by armed resistance, which, by May 1992, had escalated into a full-scale civil war as weapons released to the Transnistrians by the 14th Army were used against Moldovan military units. By the close of the summer, more than 300 people had been killed in the conflict, and more than 1,000 had been wounded. A large part of the city of Bender, which had become a focal point of the conflict, had been devastated; thousands of refugees flooded out of the region. ************** Easing of Tensions While combat in the civil war remained at a bloody stalemate into mid-1992, the political situation in Moldova changed dramatically, at least partly as a consequence of popular dissatisfaction with the conflict. In the first stage of the realignment, former CPM First Secretary Lucinschi was named ambassador to Russia. Lucinschi, the highest-ranking "Moldavian" outside of the country during the communist era, was able to use his connections with the Moscow political elite to promote accommodation. Soon afterward, in July 1992, Prime Minister Valeriu Muravschi (who had replaced Mircea Druc) was replaced by Andrei Sangheli of the Democratic Agrarian Party of Moldova. Sangheli was a former CPM raion committee first secretary and member of the Council of Ministers. Sangheli's new government included significantly improved minority representation and promised a more efficient economic reform program, as well as a more moderate approach to the ethnic conflict. By taking this more flexible approach, Moldova was able to reduce the level of violence involved in the separatist dispute, if not to bring the conflict to an end. But the shift in policy direction precipitated a strong backlash from the more extreme elements of the Popular Front, which felt that it was slipping from power. This and popular dissatisfaction with the failing economy forced a fundamental political reorientation. In December 1992, President Snegur, who clearly supported the more conciliatory course, touched off a crisis by delivering a speech to Parliament in which he laid out a course of foreign policy based on the pursuit of national independence. Snegur warned against the extremes of either unification with Romania or reintegration into some form of alliance with Russia. His public position against efforts to promote unification further soured relations between himself and the Popular Front and at the same time sharpened divisions between moderates and more extreme nationalists within the Popular Front itself. Fallout from Snegur's speech was almost immediate. In early January 1993, Alexandru Mosanu, chair of the Moldovan Parliament, offered his resignation, citing the differences between himself and the president of the republic and complaining about tendencies within the government favoring the previous political system. If, as some suggest, Mosanu's resignation was intended to rally support in an effort to undermine President Snegur, it failed miserably. Not only was the resignation accepted, but Parliament voted overwhelmingly to replace Mosanu with Petru Lucinschi, a leader of those very forces about which Mosanu had warned. *************** Political Realignment Lucinschi's election on February 4, 1993, to the leading position in Parliament marked the peak of a process of political realignment in Moldova. By early 1993, the Popular Front, now named the Christian Democratic Popular Front (CDPF) was in neartotal disarray. Moderate intellectuals (such as Mosanu), who had added tremendously to the prestige of the Popular Front during its early years, organized the "Congress of Intellectuals" in order to promote a nationalistic, but less extreme, agenda. As a result, they were expelled from the CDPF in mid-May. As a consequence of factionalism and defection, the CDPF's voting strength in Parliament was reduced to approximately twenty-five deputies. With the CDPF in decline, power shifted to the bloc of Democratic Agrarian Party of Moldova deputies (the Viata Satului legislative club), which, with support from independent deputies, was able to play a dominant role in Parliament. Lucinschi's election and the realignment of forces among the deputies brought Parliament into much closer alignment with President Snegur and Prime Minister Sangheli's government on the ethnic conflict. As a consequence, Moldova was better positioned than it had been in the previous two years to end the infighting that had characterized its political life during that time. There was hope that Moldova's leaders would be able to resolve the ongoing civil conflict, which had, of necessity, been the dominant issue in the republic since its inception, and to proceed with the reforms that Moldova so desperately needed. At the same time, the realignment moved Moldova's government into a more conservative position with respect to economic and political reform, marginalizing legislators who were elected as opposition candidates and vesting more power in the hands of those who were originally elected as representatives of the CPM. In particular, the realignment gave near-veto power to the bloc of Democratic Agrarian Party of Moldova deputies, many of whom were state and collective farm presidents. Although the great majority of these individuals supported democratic politics, the strength of their commitment to the transition to a market economy was questionable. Despite the powerful combination of government, the presidency, and Lucinschi's parliamentary leadership working in harmony, the hopelessly tangled web of factions and rivalries within Parliament could not be overcome, and legislation ground to a halt. The pro-Romanian faction objected, but a vote was taken to dissolve parliament and hold early Parliamentary elections. ************** The 1994 Elections and Afterwards Campaigning for the February 27, 1994, parliamentary elections revolved around economic reform, competing strategies for resolving the separatist crises, and relations with both the CIS and Romania. Debate on the issues of moving to a market economy, privatization, land reform, and foreign policy was polarized. The results of the election quickly changed the course of Moldovan politics and stood in sharp contrast to the results of the 1990 election. Nationalist and pro-Romanian forces were rejected overwhelmingly in favor of those backing Moldova's independence and in favor of accommodating ethnic minorities. Under laws passed in preparation for the February 27, 1994, elections, the Parliament was reduced from 380 seats to a more manageable 104. Fifty of these delegates were selected from fifty newly drawn single-member districts, and the remainder were elected from larger multimember districts on the basis of proportional representation. Candidates were nominated by voters (independent candidates had to submit petitions with at least 1,000 signatures), political parties, or "sociopolitical organizations"; parties had to receive at least 4 percent of the vote to be accorded seats. The Democratic Agrarian Party of Moldova won a majority of fifty-six of the 104 seats, followed by the Yedinstvo/Socialist Bloc with twenty-eight seats. Two pro-Romanian unification parties did not do well: the Congress of Peasants and Intellectuals won eleven seats, and the CPDF won nine seats. A number of other parties did not get a high enough percentage of the popular vote to be represented in the new Parliament. In March the chair of Parliament, Petru Lucinschi, was elected to his post, and the prime minister, Andrei Sangheli, was reappointed to his post. In April Parliament approved a new Council of Ministers, Moldova's membership in the CIS, and Moldova's signing of a CIS charter on economic union (although the country would not participate in political or military integration within the CIS). A referendum on March 6, 1994, confirmed the country's course of political independence for the future: the Moldovan electorate voted overwhelmingly for Moldova to maintain its territorial integrity. Now that the legislative logjam was broken, Parliament was able to work on a new constitution, which it ratified on July 28 and implemented August 27, 1994. The new constitution granted substantial autonomy to Transnistria and the "Gagauz Republic" while reasserting Moldovan national identity and sovereignty. Gagauzia (in Romanian; Gagauz-Yeri, in Gagauz) would have cultural, administrative, and economic (but not territorial) autonomy and would elect a regional legislative assembly, which in turn would elect a guvernator (in Romanian; baskan, in Gagauz), who would also be a member of the Moldovan government. This was ratified by Parliament in January 1995. Members of the Democratic Agrarian Party of Moldova held a cautious attitude toward marketization and privatization, leading experts to believe that progress in economic reform would be slow, but would be more consistent and better implemented than previously. The hard-line nationalists and the former communists could not vote as a majority to block progress. **************** Human Rights The adoption of Moldova's constitution of August 27, 1994, codified certain basic human rights (including the rights to private property, individual freedom and personal security, freedom of movement, privacy of correspondence, freedom of opinion and expression, and freedom of assembly), which were observed more in the breach during the Soviet era. However, the constitution still contains language that could limit the activities of political parties and the press. Although there is not government censorship of Moldova's independent periodicals and its radio stations and cable television stations, journalists complain that editors encourage them to soften their criticisms of government officials for fear of confrontation and possible retribution. This seems to be a well-grounded fear in Transnistria, where the authorities have cut off funding for two newspapers for occasionally criticizing some government policies and have physically attacked a cable television station for broadcasting reports critical of the authorities. In 1994 Parliament considered a new law on the press, which journalists criticized strongly because it limited their right to criticize government policies. After reviewing recommendations from the Council of Europe and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), Parliament liberalized the law but left some restrictions that appear to be aimed at writings favoring reunification with Romania and those questioning Moldova's right to exist. The Moldovan Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of National Security were investigated on several occasions in 1994 as to whether they had exceeded their legislated authority. They were accused of monitoring political opposition members and using unauthorized wiretaps. There were also claims of interference with opposition activities during the campaign preceding the 1994 elections, but there was no public investigation of those charges. The police, subordinate to the Ministry of Interior, are known to use beatings in their dealings with some detainees and prisoners. Reform of the judiciary (to bring it more into line with Western practices) was approved, but Parliament had not passed the laws needed to implement it by the end of 1994. For example, prosecutors rather than judges issue search and arrest warrants, there is no judicial review of search warrants, and courts do not exclude evidence obtained illegally. There are also reports that local prosecutors have brought unjustified charges against individuals in retaliation for accusations of official corruption or for political reasons. Trials in Moldova are generally open to the public, and the accused has the right to appeal. Bail does not exist, but release usually may be arranged by obtaining a written guarantee by a friend or family member that the accused will appear in court. Because the security forces and the government of the "Dnestr Republic" are so closely connected, human rights abuses in Transnistria are more flagrant. The worst of the abuses in Transnistria occurred in 1992, during the height of the fighting. There were reports of beatings, ill treatment, abduction, torture, and even the murder of civilians by members of the police and the so-called Republic Guard. Requests for visits by Amnesty International and the International Committee of the Red Cross were routinely refused. In Transnistria four of the six ethnic Romanians of the "Tiraspol Six" remain in prison following their conviction in 1993 for allegedly assassinating two Transnistrian officials. The fairness of the trial was seriously questioned by international human rights groups, and there were allegations that the defendants were prosecuted solely because of their membership in the CDPF. Moldova has several local human rights groups, which maintain contacts with international organizations, including Helsinki Watch and Helsinki Citizens Assembly. The government does not interfere with human rights groups' operations. ************* The Media The main daily newspaper in the republic, Moldova Suverana, is published by the government. Sfatul Tarii is published by Parliament, which also publishes the daily Nezavisimaya Moldova in Russian. Other principal newspapers include Rabochiy Tiraspol' (in Russian, the main newspaper of the Slavs in Transnistria), Tara, Tineretul Moldovei/Molodëzh Moldovy (in Romanian and Russian), and Viata satului (published by the government). The main cultural publication in Moldova is the weekly journal Literatura si arts, published by the Union of Writers of Moldova. Other principal periodicals include Basarabia (also published by the writers' union), Chiparus, Alunelul, Femeie Moldovei, Lanterna Magica, Moldova, Noi, and SudEst . Kishinëvskiye novosti, Kodry, and Russkoye slovo are Russian-language periodicals. Other minority-language periodicals include Prosvita and Homin in Ukrainian, Ana sözu and Cîrlangaci in Gagauz, Rodno slovo in Bulgarian, and Undzer col/Nash golos in Yiddish and Russian. In all, 240 newspapers (ninety-seven in Romanian) and sixty-eight magazines (thirty-five in Romanian) were being published in the republic in 1990. Basa Press, an independent news service, was established in November 1992. ************ FOREIGN RELATIONS In the wake of its proclamation of sovereignty in 1990, Moldova's main diplomatic efforts were directed toward establishing new relationships with the Soviet Union's successor states, establishing diplomatic links with other national governments and international bodies, gaining international recognition, and enlisting international support to resolve the conflict in Transnistria. Although substantial gains have been made in each of these areas, Moldova's foreign policy efforts have been complicated by its geographic position, its history, and the ongoing ethnic conflict within its borders. After it declared independence, Moldova made significant progress in international relations in a relatively short period of time. The first state to recognize Moldova's independence was neighboring Romania. By early 1995, Moldova had been recognized by more than 170 states, including the United States (which extended recognition on December 25, 1991), although foreign diplomatic presence in Chisinau remains limited. As of early 1995, Moldova had been admitted to several international organizations, including the CSCE (renamed the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, in January 1995), the United Nations (UN), the International Monetary Fund (IMF--see Glossary), the World Bank (see Glossary), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the North Atlantic Cooperation Council, and the Community of Riparian Countries of the Black Sea. It also had observer status at the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), the successor to GATT. By mid-1994 Moldova had accepted all relevant arms control obligations of the former Soviet Union. It had ratified the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty (with its comprehensive limits on key categories of conventional military equipment). Even though Moldova had not acceded to the provisions of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it had indicated that it intended to do so. ************* Commonwealth of Independent States The domestic political ramifications of Moldova's civil conflict in Transnistria were matched by its effect on foreign relations. Domestic sentiments limited the foreign policy flexibility of the government in dealing with the former Soviet Union. Although President Snegur signed the Minsk Agreement (which created the CIS; see Appendix C) on December 8, 1991, and the Alma-Ata Declaration (which expanded the membership of the CIS; see Appendix D) on December 21, 1991, Moldova's Parliament, strongly influenced by the Popular Front bloc of delegates, refused to ratify the agreements. Further, along with Ukraine and Turkmenistan, Moldova refused to sign a January 1993 agreement that would have strengthened political and economic integration among CIS members. It thus embarked upon a difficult course of independence, maneuvering between Russia and Romania, both of which have strong interests in the region, and each of which is more powerful than the young republic. It was only in April 1994 that the new Parliament finally approved Moldova's membership in the CIS and signed a CIS charter on economic union. ************ Romania The relationship between Moldova and Romania, while generally good, is far from trouble free. Although Romania was the first state to recognize Moldova and has provided substantial support to the new republic in relation to Bucharest's means, ties between the two Romanian-speaking states are fraught with political difficulties for both countries. The relationship between Romania and Moldova began to deteriorate shortly after Moldova's independence. Because of their different histories, with Moldova part of the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union, Moldovans and Romanians have different attitudes about basic social and political issues, such as the extent of social payments (i.e. welfare). Many Romanians see the Moldovans as "Russified" and hold the condescending view that they are in need of assistance to overcome their cultural disabilities. This has been a source of growing resentment among the majority of Moldovans. For his part, Romania's president, Ion Iliescu, worked consistently to maintain a positive relationship with Russia. On the one hand, moves on his part that could be seen as destabilizing the interethnic balance in Moldova and tipping it toward civil war would be potentially disastrous for his country, both in the limited sense of setting back Russian-Romanian relations and in the more serious sense of potentially drawing Russia into a regional conflict. On the other hand, any precipitous move on the part of Moldova in the direction of Romania would immediately raise fears of imminent unification with Romania among the Russian-speaking population and among the Gagauz and would feed interethnic hostility in the republic. The March 6, 1994, referendum confirmed to all interested parties, in no uncertain terms, that the populace of Moldova is not in favor of reuniting with any country. In late 1994, President Iliescu made comments questioning Moldova's independent status. Although relations between the two countries remain cordial, these comments reflected the Romanian nationalistic parties' greater influence in national politics and in the parliament. ************** Russia In the case of Russia, interethnic conflict in Moldova produced results similar to those that followed outbreaks of violence in other former republics of the Soviet Union soon after they had proclaimed their independence. Intrinsically, Moldova was probably of little interest to Moscow, but the presence of an ethnic Russian minority in Moldova altered Moscow's perspective. Moldova's ethnic Russians found the prospect of Moldova's reunification with Romania alarming, because it would alter their status from that of a large and politically powerful force to that of a small and politically powerless minority. Moldova was geographically important to both the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union because it formed part of the border of both. In this way, it formed a barrier between Russia itself (in both cases, the ruling entity) and the outside world. Although officially neutral, the Russian 14th Army (stationed in Transnistria) played a vital role in the conflict between the government of Moldova and the "Dnestr Republic." Its commanders permitted the transfer of weapons from their stockpiles in Moldova to the Transnistrian militia and volunteered the services of "Cossack" (see Glossary) forces that entered the region once fighting broke out (there were approximately 1,000 "Cossacks" in Transnistria in 1994). Furthermore, strong indications suggested that elements of the 14th Army actively intervened on the side of the separatists during the fighting, using their heavy weapons to turn the tide in the fighting when necessary. Eventually, however, it became evident that the Transnistria conflict was not about ethnic issues (especially once implementation of the language law of 1989 was delayed, and the Popular Front extremists lost much of their power), but about political systems. The Transnistrian leadership wanted to return to the days of the Soviet Union and was wary of the Yeltsin government (it never repudiated its support of the August 1991 coup d'état) and the reformists. In July 1992, an agreement negotiated by presidents Snegur and Yeltsin established a cease-fire in Transnistria, which brought an end to the worst of the fighting in Moldova. Transnistria was given special status within Moldova and was granted the right to determine its future should Moldova reunite with Romania. Russian, Transnistrian, and Moldovan peacekeeping troops subsequently were introduced into Transnistria. Maintaining the agreement was, however, complicated by the instability of Russia's central government and by the implications of the 14th Army's involvement for Russia's domestic politics. The 14th Army's commander, Lieutenant General Aleksandr V. Lebed', was politically extremely conservative and, despite repeated warnings from his superiors to restrain himself, had stated publicly that he would not "abandon" Transnistria's ethnic Russians. Like Lebed', Russia's conservatives generally considered abandonment of the ethnic Russian minority to be an anathema. In 1995 nationalists in Russia (whose strength was growing) were ready to protect the "rights" of Russians in the "near abroad" and would, no doubt, politically attack moderates who might be willing to end the conflict through compromise. By 1994, however, relations between the Transnistrian leadership and the 14th Army had deteriorated to the point that both sides were accusing each other of corruption (including arms trafficking, drug running, and money laundering) and political provocation. General Lebed' also saw many in the Transnistrian leadership as not cooperating with Russian efforts to mediate the conflict and as actively hampering the peace process. After the 1994 change in Moldova's government, compromises were made by both the Moldovan and the Russian governments to improve relations over the issue of Transnistria. The status of the 14th Army was scheduled to be reduced to that of an "operational group," General Lebed' was to be released from his position, and the number of officers was to be reduced. The two countries signed an agreement in October on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Transnistria within three years. Moldova accepted a linkage between withdrawing Russian troops and achieving a political solution to the conflict in Transnistria. Transnistrian observers, who had feared that the Yeltsin government would strike a deal without their consent, saw the agreement as a blow to their existence as a Russian entity (and also to their illegal money-making activities) and walked out of the negotiations. However, peace was not to come so easily to Transnistria. The October 1994 agreement was a "gentlemen's agreement" that was signed by the two prime ministers and was to be approved by the two governments, but would not be submitted to the countries' parliaments. The Moldovan government approved the agreement immediately, but the Russian government did not, citing the need to submit it to the Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament), although it still had not submitted the agreement in mid-1995. According to General Lebed', three years was not enough time to withdraw the 14th Army and its matériel (although an American company working in Belarus offered to buy the 14th Army's ordnance and destroy it). Some members of Russia's Duma flatly refused to consider withdrawing the 14th Army. Under these circumstances, there was little hope for the agreement to be implemented. In mid-1995 General Lebed' resigned in protest over the still-scheduled downgrading of the 14th Army. He was believed to be a likely candidate in the 1996 Russian presidential elections. ************* Ukraine Moldova's relationship with Ukraine, another important player in the Transnistrian conflict, is also complicated. Historically, areas that were traditionally part of the region of Moldova or Romania (northern Bukovina, Herta, and southern Bessarabia), and that continue to be inhabited in part by ethnic Romanians, were annexed by Ukraine when the Moldavian SSR was formed. The potential claims on these territories created tension between the two neighbors in the early years of Moldova's independence, when the Popular Front made public demands for restitution. Another potential problem is the presence of a large ethnic Ukrainian minority in Moldova. Ethnic Ukrainians have sided with the local ethnic Russians in the dispute over Moldova's language law, and many ethnic Ukrainians have supported the separatist effort in Transnistria. However, the government of Moldova took significant measures to meet the demands of the Ukrainian minority for cultural autonomy and appears to have met with substantial success in defusing opposition to Moldova's Language Law. In 1995 potential problems between Ukraine and Moldova were subordinate to what had emerged as a strong common interest in containing the Transnistrian conflict. Given their own dispute with Russia concerning the status of Crimea, Ukrainians had little interest in supporting the presence of Russian military units outside Russia. As a more practical question, it was not in Ukraine's interest to have a large and well-equipped Russian military formation based in neighboring Transnistria. The 14th Army could reach Russia only by traversing Ukrainian territory or airspace, so its presence could only be seen as a potential source of danger and instability. Therefore, it is not surprising that Ukrainian president Leonid M. Kravchuk made several statements supporting Moldova's position in the Transnistrian conflict, protested the movement of "Cossack" volunteers across Ukrainian territory to Transnistria, and refused to recognize Transnistrian claims to sovereignty. ************* Turkey Politically moderate Gagauz received support from Turkey, which urged the leadership of the "Gagauz Republic" to negotiate with the Moldovan government rather than resort to violence, as had been the case in Transnistria. Turkish president Süleyman Demirel visited the "Gagauz Republic" in mid-1994, urging the Gagauz to accept regional autonomy and to be loyal citizens of Moldova. Turkey pledged to invest US$35 million in the Gagauz region via Chisinau. *********** The West Moldova has pursued cooperation with, and has strived to maintain good relations with, the West. It has joined a number of international organizations and has been responsive to foreign concerns about the pace of its conversion to capitalism. A January 1995 trip by President Snegur to the United States was the setting for an announcement by President William J. Clinton of additional assistance to Moldova for its privatization program and for economic restructuring. Moldova has also signed bilateral treaties with European Union (EU) members. ************ NATIONAL SECURITY In October 1991, President Mircea Snegur announced Moldova's decision to organize its own national armed forces; Moldova had demanded the withdrawal of Soviet troops when it declared its independence. The decision not to participate in the joint forces of the CIS was made explicit by Parliament's rejection of the Alma-Ata Declaration of December 21, 1991. The number, training, and quality of the armed forces and the police have varied greatly since the republic's declaration of independence. In April 1991, Moldova passed legislation that exempted its residents from service in the Soviet armed forces and that granted immunity from prosecution to anyone declining to serve. A law on alternative service for conscientious objectors was passed later. Initially, political leaders intended to keep troop levels low. Moldova's plan for the regular armed forces was to recruit Moldovan citizens to serve in the army and national police and take over positions in Soviet military structures and in the Moldovan Ministry of National Security, which replaced the KGB (see Glossary) in Moldova. This program would in effect "republicanize" the armed forces. An eighteen-month draft of eighteen-year-old males was introduced. However, students at institutes of higher education were exempted from all but three months of service, which was deferred until graduation. Alternative service was available for those with religious objections to military service. In addition to the police, Moldova's armed forces consist of border guards under the Ministry of National Security and a national police force of some 10,000 professionals modeled on Italy's Carabinieri. Security forces of approximately 3,500 men (2,500 Internal Troops and 1,000 OPON Riot Control Troops) havve been established under the command of the Ministry of Interior. ************* The Armed Forces A transition to a professional force of 12,000 to 15,000 volunteers was planned at first, but when fighting erupted in 1991 between supporters of the central government in Chisinau and supporters of separatist regions, males between eighteen and forty years of age were mobilized, and the size of Moldova's military was temporarily expanded to meet the demands of the Transnistrian conflict. In early 1995, the armed forces totaled some 11,000 volunteers, and there were plans to gradually create a professional army, similar to that of the United States. At the beginning of 1994, the Moldovan army (under the Ministry of Defense) consisted of 9,800 men organized into three motor rifle brigades, one artillery brigade, and one reconnaissance/assault battalion. Its equipment consisted of fifty-six ballistic missile defenses; seventy-seven armored personnel carriers and sixty-seven "look-alikes;" eighteen 122mm and fifty-three 152mm towed artillery units; nine 120mm combined guns/mortars; seventy AT-4 Spigot, nineteen AT-5 Spandral, and twenty-seven AT-6 Spiral antitank guided weapons; a 73mm SPG-9 recoilless launcher, forty-five MT-12 100mm anti-tank guns; and thirty ZU-23 23mm and twelve S-60 57mm air defense guns. Moldova has received some arms from former Soviet stocks maintained on the territory of the republic as well as undetermined quantities of arms from Romania, particularly at the height of the fighting with Transnistria. In 1994 the Moldovan air force consisted of 1,300 men organized into one fighter regiment, one helicopter squadron, and one missile brigade. Equipment used by the air force included thirty-one MiG-29 aircraft, eight Mi-8 helicopters, five transport aircraft (including an An-72), and twenty-five SA-3/-5 surface-to-air missiles. Other military forces also existed within Moldova. In early 1994, the government of the "Dnestr Republic" had armed forces of about 5,000 which included the Dnestr battalion of the Republic Guard and some 1,000 "Cossacks." As of early 1994, the Russian 14th Army (about 9,200 troops) consisted of one army headquarters, one motor rifle division, one tank battalion, one artillery regiment, and one anti-aircraft brigade. Their equipment consisted of 120 main battle tanks, 180 armored combat vehicles, and 130 artillery/multiple rocket launchers/mortars. Peacekeepers in Transnistria consisted of six airborne battalions supplied by Russia, three infantry battalions supplied by Moldova, and three airborne battalions supplied by the "Dnestr Republic." ************* Internal Security In 1995 the national police of Moldova were under the direction of the Ministry of Interior. Internal troops were reported to have 2,500 men, and the numbers of the OPON riot police (also known as the "Black Berets") were put at 900. The scope and quality of Moldova's state security apparatus were difficult to determine. Like the armed forces, local assets of the former Moldavian KGB were transferred to the new government along with those personnel who wished to enter the service of the new government. These elements now function under the republic's control as the Ministry of National Security. ************ Crime Crime in Moldova, as everywhere in former Soviet republics, has risen dramatically since the demise of the Soviet Union. Economic and drug-related crimes, the most visible and predictable results of the deteriorating economic situations in the newly independent countries, have simply overwhelmed the human and financial resources devoted to them. Often, however, the problem is more extensive than what is acknowledged: many crimes are not registered. For example, in mid-1995, the Moldovan government stated that overall crime in Moldova had risen by 29 percent over the previous year. However, the number of motorbikes and motor vehicles "being searched for" was thirteen times the number of vehicles listed as "stolen." Illicit cultivation of opium poppies and cannabis is carried out in Moldova, mainly for consumption in CIS countries. In addition, Moldova is a transshipment point for illegal drugs to Western Europe. * * * The best historical treatments of Moldova in the pre-Soviet period are still found in general treatments of Romania. Particularly useful works include Vlad Georgescu's The Romanians, R.W. Seton-Watson's A History of the Roumanians, and Barbara Jelavich's History of the Balkans: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Older, yet still useful, works focusing on Bessarabia are Charles Upson Clark's Bessarabia: Russia and Romania on the Black Sea and Andrei Popovici's The Political Status of Bessarabia. Much of the available information on the Soviet period is found in general works on nationalities in the former Soviet Union, such as James H. Bater's The Soviet Scene: A Geographical Perspective; Mikhail Bernstam's "The Demography of Soviet Ethnic Groups in World Perspective," in The Last Empire: Nationality and the Soviet Future, edited by Robert Conquest; Social Trends in the Soviet Union from 1950 by Michael Ryan and Richard Prentice; and Viktor Kozlov's The Peoples of the Soviet Union. Sherman David Spector's "The Moldavian S.S.R., 1964-1974," in Nationalism in the USSR and Eastern Europe, edited by George W. Simmonds, provides more specific information concerning overall conditions in Moldova. Michael Bruchis's Nations, Nationalities, People: A Study of the Nationalities Policy of the Communist Party in Soviet Moldavia is an interesting and useful account of the implementation of the Soviet nationalities policy in Moldova by an intimate observer of the process. For the politics of language in Moldavia during the Soviet period, see The USSR: Language and Realities: Nations, Leaders, and Scholars and One Step Back, Two Steps Forward: On the Language Policy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in the National Republics, both also by Michael Bruchis. The following are useful works on the transition period and current conditions (several also include sections on the preSoviet and Soviet periods): William Crowther's "Romania and Moldavian Political Dynamics" in Romania after Tyranny, edited by Daniel Nelson; Nicholas Dima's From Moldavia to Moldova: The Soviet-Romanian Territorial Dispute; "The Politics of Ethnonational Mobilization: Nationalism and Reform in Soviet Moldavia," also by Crowther, in Russian Review; Nicolas Dima's "The Soviet Political Upheaval of the 1980s: The Case of Moldova" in Journal of Social, Political and Economic Studies; Dima's "Recent Changes in Soviet Moldavia," in the East European Quarterly; Darya Fane's "Moldova: Breaking Loose From Moscow," in Nations and Politics in the Soviet Successor States; Jonathan Eyal's "Moldovans," in The Nationalities Question in the Soviet Union, edited by Graham Smith; and Charles King's "Moldova and the New Bessarabian Question" in World Today. (For further information and complete citations, see Bibliography.) *********** APPENDIX B -- Belarus and Moldova THE MINSK AGREEMENT Signed by the heads of state of Belarus, the Russian Federation, and Ukraine on December 8, 1991. PREAMBLE We, the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Ukraine, as founder states of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), which signed the 1922 Union Treaty, further described as the high contracting parties, conclude that the USSR has ceased to exist as a subject of international law and a geopolitical reality. Taking as our basis the historic community of our peoples and the ties which have been established between them, taking into account the bilateral treaties concluded between the high contracting parties; striving to build democratic law-governed states; intending to develop our relations on the basis of mutual recognition and respect for state sovereignty, the inalienable right to self- determination, the principles of equality and non-interference in internal affairs, repudiation of the use of force and of economic or any other methods of coercion, settlement of contentious problems by means of mediation and other generally recognized principles and norms of international law; considering that further development and strengthening of relations of friendship, good-neighborliness and mutually beneficial co-operation between our states correspond to the vital national interests of their peoples and serve the cause of peace and security; confirming our adherence to the goals and principles of the United Nations Charter, the Helsinki Final Act and other documents of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe; and committing ourselves to observe the generally recognized internal norms on human rights and the rights of peoples, we have agreed the following: ARTICLE 1 The high contracting parties form the Commonwealth of Independent States. ARTICLE 2 The high contracting parties guarantee their citizens equal rights and freedoms regardless of nationality or other distinctions. Each of the high contracting parties guarantees the citizens of the other parties, and also persons without citizenship that live on its territory, civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights and freedoms in accordance with generally recognized international norms of human rights, regardless of national allegiance or other distinctions. ARTICLE 3 The high contracting parties, desiring to promote the expression, preservation and development of the ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious individuality of the national minorities resident on their territories, and that of the unique ethno- cultural regions that have come into being, take them under their protection. ARTICLE 4 The high contracting parties will develop the equal and mutually beneficial co-operation of their peoples and states in the spheres of politics, the economy, culture, education, public health, protection of the environment, science and trade and in the humanitarian and other spheres, will promote the broad exchange of information and will conscientiously and unconditionally observe reciprocal obligations. The parties consider it a necessity to conclude agreements on co-operation in the above spheres. ARTICLE 5 The high contracting parties recognize and respect one another's territorial integrity and the inviolability of existing borders within the Commonwealth. They guarantee openness of borders, freedom of movement for citizens and of transmission of information within the Commonwealth. ARTICLE 6 The member-states of the Commonwealth will co-operate in safeguarding international peace and security and in implementing effective measures for reducing weapons and military spending. They seek the elimination of all nuclear weapons and universal total disarmament under strict international control. The parties will respect one another's aspiration to attain the status of a non-nuclear zone and a neutral state. The member-states of the community will preserve and maintain under united command a common military-strategic space, including unified control over nuclear weapons, the procedure for implementing which is regulated by a special agreement. They also jointly guarantee the necessary conditions for the stationing and functioning of and for material and social provision for the strategic armed forces. The parties contract to pursue a harmonized policy on questions of social protection and pension provision for members of the services and their families. ARTICLE 7 The high contracting parties recognize that within the sphere of their activities, implemented on the equal basis through the common coordinating institutions of the Commonwealth, will be the following: * co-operation in the sphere of foreign policy; * co-operation in forming and developing the united economic area, the common European and Eurasian markets, in the area of customs policy; * co-operation in developing transport and communication systems; * co-operation in preservation of the environment, and participation in creating a comprehensive international system of ecological safety; * migration policy issues; * and fighting organized crime. ARTICLE 8 The parties realize the planetary character of the Chernobyl catastrophe and pledge themselves to unite and co-ordinate their efforts in minimizing and overcoming its consequences. To these ends they have decided to conclude a special agreement which will take consider [sic] the gravity of the consequences of this catastrophe. ARTICLE 9 The disputes regarding interpretation and application of the norms of this agreement are to be solved by way of negotiations between the appropriate bodies, and when necessary, at the level of heads of the governments and states. ARTICLE 10 Each of the high contracting parties reserved the right to suspend the validity of the present agreement or individual articles thereof, after informing the parties to the agreement of this a year in advance. The clauses of the present agreement may be addended to or amended with the common consent of the high contracting parties. ARTICLE 11 From the moment that the present agreement is signed, the norms of third states, including the former USSR, are not permitted to be implemented on the territories of the signatory states. ARTICLE 12 The high contracting parties guarantee the fulfillment of the international obligations binding upon them from the treaties and agreements of the former USSR. ARTICLE 13 The present agreement does not affect the obligations of the high contracting parties in regard to third states. The present agreement is open for all member-states of the former USSR to join, and also for other states which share the goals and principles of the present agreement. ARTICLE 14 The city of Minsk is the official location of the coordinating bodies of the Commonwealth. The activities of bodies of the former USSR are discontinued on the territories of the member-states of the Commonwealth. **************** APPENDIX C -- Belarus and Moldova THE ALMA-ATA DECLARATION Signed by eleven heads of state on December 21, 1991. PREAMBLE The independent states: The Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Turkmenistan, the Republic of Ukraine and the Republic of Uzbekistan; seeking to build democratic law-governed states, the relations between which will develop on the basis of mutual recognition and respect for state sovereignty and sovereign equality, the inalienable right to self-determination, principles of equality and noninterference in the internal affairs, the rejection of the use of force, the threat of force and economic and any other methods of pressure, a peaceful settlement of disputes, respect for human rights and freedoms, including the rights of national minorities, a conscientious fulfillment of commitments and other generally recognized principles and standards of international law; recognizing and respecting each other's territorial integrity and the inviolability of the existing borders; believing that the strengthening of the relations of friendship, good neighborliness and mutually advantageous co- operation, which has deep historic roots, meets the basic interests of nations and promotes the cause of peace and security; being aware of their responsibility for the preservation of civilian peace and inter-ethnic accord; being loyal to the objectives and principles of the agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States; are making the following statement: THE DECLARATION Co-operation between members of the Commonwealth will be carried out in accordance with the principle of equality through coordinating institutions formed on a parity basis and operating in the way established by the agreements between members of the Commonwealth, which is neither a state, nor a super-state structure. In order to ensure international strategic stability and security, allied command of the military-strategic forces and a single control over nuclear weapons will be preserved, the sides will respect each other's desire to attain the status of a non- nuclear and (or) neutral state. The Commonwealth of Independent States is open, with the agreement of all its participants, to the states--members of the former USSR, as well as other states--sharing the goals and principles of the Commonwealth. The allegiance to co-operation in the formation and development of the common economic space, and all-European and Eurasian markets, is being confirmed. With the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States the USSR ceases to exist. Member states of the Commonwealth guarantee, in accordance with their constitutional procedures, the fulfillment of international obligations, stemming from the treaties and agreements of the former USSR. Member states of the Commonwealth pledge to observe strictly the principles of this declaration. Agreement on Councils of Heads of State and Government A provisional agreement on the membership and conduct of Councils of Heads of State and Government was concluded between the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States on December 30, 1991. PREAMBLE The member states of this agreement, guided by the aims and principles of the agreement on the creation of a Commonwealth of Independent States of 8 December 1991 and the protocol to the agreement of 21 December 1991, taking into consideration the desire of the Commonwealth states to pursue joint activity through the Commonwealth's common coordinating institutions, and deeming it essential to establish, for the consistent implementation of the provisions of the said agreement, the appropriate inter-state and inter-governmental institutions capable of ensuring effective co- ordination, and of promoting the development of equal and mutually advantageous co-operation, have agreed on the following: ARTICLE 1 The Council of Heads of State is the supreme body, on which all the member-states of the Commonwealth are represented at the level of head of state, for discussion of fundamental issues connected with coordinating the activity of the Commonwealth states in the sphere of their common interests. The Council of Heads of State is empowered to discuss issues provided for by the Minsk Agreement on the creation of a Commonwealth of Independent States and other documents for the development of the said Agreement, including the problems of legal succession, which have arisen as a result of ending the existence of the USSR and the abolition of Union structures. The activities of the Council of Heads of State and of the Council of Heads of Government are pursued on the basis of mutual recognition of and respect for the state sovereignty and sovereign equality of the member-states of the Agreement, their inalienable right to self-determination, the principles of equality and non- interference in internal affairs, the renunciation of the use of force and the threat of force, territorial integrity and the inviolability of existing borders, and the peaceful settlement of disputes, respect for human rights and liberties, including the rights of national minorities, conscientious fulfillment of obligations and other commonly accepted principles and norms of international law. ARTICLE 2 The activities of the activities of the Council of Heads of State and of the Council of Heads of Government are regulated by the Minsk Agreement on setting up the Commonwealth of Independent States, the present agreement and agreements adopted in development of them, and also by the rules of procedure of these institutes. Each state in the council has one vote. The decisions of the council are taken by common consent. The official languages of the Councils are the state languages of the Commonwealth states. The working language is the Russian language. ARTICLE 3 The Council of Heads of State and of the Council of Heads of Government discuss and where necessary take decisions on the more important domestic and external issues. Any state may declare its having no interest in a particular issue or issues. ARTICLE 4 The Council of Heads of State convenes for meetings no less than twice a year. The decision on the time for holding and the provisional agenda of each successive meeting of the Council is taken at the routine meeting of the Council, unless the Council agrees otherwise. Extraordinary meetings of the Council of Heads of State are convened on the initiative of the majority of Commonwealth heads of state. The heads of state chair the meetings of the Council in turn, according to the Russian alphabetical order of the names of the Commonwealth states. Sittings of the Council of Heads of State are generally to be held in Minsk. A sitting of the Council may be held in another of the Commonwealth states by agreement among those taking part. ARTICLE 5 The Council of Heads of Government convenes for meetings no less frequently than once every three months. The decision concerning the scheduling of and preliminary agenda for each subsequent sitting is to be made at a routine session of the Council, unless the Council arranges otherwise. Extraordinary sittings of the Council of Heads of Government may be convened at the initiative of a majority of heads of government of the commonwealth states. The heads of government chair meetings of the Council in turn, according to the Russian alphabetical order of the names of the Commonwealth states. Sittings of the Council of Heads of Government are generally to be held in Minsk. A sitting of the Council may be held in another of the Commonwealth states by agreement among the heads of government. ARTICLE 6 The Council of Heads of State and of the Council of Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Independent States may hold joint sittings. ARTICLE 7 Working and auxiliary bodies may be set up on both a permanent and interim basis on the decision of the Council of Heads of State and of the Council of Heads of Government of the Commonwealth states. These are composed of authorized representatives of the participating states. Experts and consultants may be invited to take part in their sittings. *********** Agreement on Strategic Forces Concluded between the 11 members of the Commonwealth of Independent States on December 30, 1991. PREAMBLE Guided by the necessity for a coordinated and organized solution to issues in the sphere of the control of the strategic forces and the single control over nuclear weapons, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Turkmenistan, the Republic of Ukraine and the Republic of Uzbekistan, subsequently referred to as 'the member-states of the Commonwealth,' have agreed on the following: ARTICLE 1 The term 'strategic forces' means: groupings, formations, units, institutions, the military training institutes for the strategic missile troops, for the air force, for the navy and for the air defenses; the directorates of the Space Command and of the airborne troops, and of strategic and operational intelligence, and the nuclear technical units and also the forces, equipment and other military facilities designed for the control and maintenance of the strategic forces of the former USSR (the schedule is to be determined for each state participating in the Commonwealth in a separate protocol). ARTICLE 2 The member-states of the Commonwealth undertake to observe the international treaties of the former USSR, to pursue a coordinated policy in the area of international security, disarmament and arms control, and to participate in the preparation and implementation of programs for reductions in arms and armed forces. The member- states of the Commonwealth are immediately entering into negotiations with one another and also with other states which were formerly part of the USSR, but which have not joined the commonwealth, with the aim of ensuring guarantees and developing mechanisms for implementing the aforementioned treaties. ARTICLE 3 The member-states of the Commonwealth recognize the need for joint command of strategic forces and for maintaining unified control of nuclear weapons, and other types of weapons of mass destruction, of the armed forces of the former USSR. ARTICLE 4 Until the complete elimination of nuclear weapons, the decision on the need for their use is taken by the president of the Russian Federation in agreement with the heads of the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Republic of Ukraine, and in consultation with the heads of the other member-states of the Commonwealth. Until their destruction in full, nuclear weapons located on the territory of the Republic of Ukraine shall be under the control of the Combined Strategic Forces Command, with the aim that they not be used and be dismantled by the end of 1994, including tactical nuclear weapons by 1 July 1992. The process of destruction of nuclear weapons located on the territory of the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Ukraine shall take place with the participation of the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Ukraine under the joint control of the Commonwealth states. ARTICLE 5 The status of strategic forces and the procedure for service in them shall be defined in a special agreement. ARTICLE 6 This agreement shall enter into force from the moment of its signing and shall be terminated by decision of the signatory states or the Council of Heads of State of the Commonwealth. This agreement shall cease to apply to a signatory state from whose territory strategic forces or nuclear weapons are withdrawn. Agreement on Armed Forces and Border Troops Concluded between the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States on December 30, 1991. PREAMBLE Proceeding from the need for a mutually acceptable settlement of matters of defense and security, including guarding the borders of the Commonwealth member-states, the member-states of the Commonwealth of Independent States have agreed the following: THE AGREEMENT The commonwealth member-states confirm their legitimate right to set up their own armed forces; jointly with the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, to examine and settle, within two months of the date of this agreement, the issue of the procedure for controlling general purpose forces, taking account of the national legislations of the Commonwealth states and also the issue of the consistent implementation by the Commonwealth states of their right to set up their own armed forces. For the Republic of Ukraine, this will be from 3 January 1991; to appoint I. Ya. Kalini[n]chenko Commander-in-Chief of Border Troops; to instruct the Commander-in-Chief of Border Troops to work out, within two months and in conjunction with the leaders of the Commonwealth member-states, a mechanism for the activity of the Border Troops, taking account of the national legislations [sic] of the Commonwealth states, with the exception of states with which a mechanism for the activity of Border Troops has already been agreed. Note: In addition, Marshal Yevgeny Shaposhnikov was confirmed as acting Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States. *************** APPENDIX D -- Belarus and Moldova DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA THE PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA, constituted after free and democratic elections, taking into account the millenary history of our people and its uninterrupted statehood within its historical and ethnic area of its national making, considering the acts of dismemberment of its national territory between 1775 and 1812 as being contradictory to the historical right of its people and the judicial stature of the principality of Moldova, acts recalled by the entire historical evolution and the free will of the population of Bassarabia and Bukovina, underlining the existence of Moldavians [sic] in Transnistria, a component part of the historical and ethnic territory of our people, acknowledging that declarations by many parliaments of many states consider the agreement of August 23, 1939, between the government of the USSR and the government of Germany null and void ab initio and demand that the political and judicial consequences of the above be eliminated, a fact revealed also by the declaration of the international conference "The Molotov- Ribbentrop pact and its consequences for Bassarabia", adopted on 28 June 1991, pointing out that, without the prior consultation of the population of Bassarabia, Northern Bukovina and Hertza District, occupied by force on June 28, 1940 as well as the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Autonomous Republic (Transnistria) established on Oct. 12, 1924, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, by infringing its constitutional prerogatives, adopted the "Law of the USSR on the establishment of the Moldavian SSR" on August 2, 1940, and its Presidium issued "The Decree concerning the frontiers between the Ukrainian SSR and the Moldavian SSR", on November 4, 1940, judicial acts whereby, in the absence of any real legal basis, it was attempted to justify the dismantlement of those territories and the incorporation of the new republic into the USSR, recalling that during the recent years the democratic national liberation movement of the population of the Republic of Moldova reaffirmed its aspirations for freedom, independence and national unity, expressed in final documents of the Great National Reunion of Kishinau [sic] on 27 August, 1989, 16 December, 1990 and 27 August, 1991, laws and decisions of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova concerning the laws reintroducing Romanian as the state language and the Latin alphabet on August 31, 1989, the state flag on 27 April, 1990, the state emblem on November 3, 1990 and the change of the official name of the republic on May 23, 1991, taking as a basis the declaration concerning State Sovereignty of the Republic of Moldova, adopted by the parliament on June 23, 1990, and the fact that the population of the Republic of Moldova, in its own right as a sovereign people, did not participate at the referendum on the preservation of the USSR, held on March 17, 1991, inspite [sic] of the pressures exercized [sic] by the state organs of the USSR, taking into account the irreversible processes taking place in Europe and elsewhere in the world calling for democracy, freedom and national unity, for the establishment of a state of law and the transformation towards a free market, reaffirming the equal rights of peoples and their right to self-determination, as laid down in the UN Charta, the Helsinki Final Act and the norms of international law pertaining to the above, considering, in view of all of the above, that the time has come for the proclamation of a judicial act, in accordance with the history of our people and moral norms of international law, PROCLAIMS SOLEMNLY, in the virtue of the right of self-determination of peoples, in the name of the entire population of the Republic of Moldova, and in front of the whole world, that: THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA IS A SOVEREIGN, INDEPENDENT AND DEMOCRATIC STATE, FREE TO DECIDE ITS PRESENT AND FUTURE, WITHOUT ANY EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE, KEEPING WITH THE IDEALS AND ASPIRATIONS OF THE PEOPLE WITHIN ITS HISTORICAL AND ETHNIC AREA OF ITS NATIONAL MAKING. In its quality as a SOVEREIGN AND INDEPENDENT STATE, THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA, hereby requests all states and world governments to recognize the independence of the Republic of Moldova, as proclaimed by the freely elected parliament of the republic and is willing to establish political, economic and cultural relations and any other relations of common interest with European countries and all other countries of the world, and is ready to establish diplomatic relations with the above, in accordance with the norms of international law and common practice on the above matter, requests the United Nations to admit the Republic of Moldova as a full member of the world organization and its specialized [sic] agencies, declares that it is ready to adhere to the Helsinki Final Act and the Paris Charta for a new Europe, equally asking to be admitted to the CSCE and its mechanisms, with equal rights, requests the USSR to begin negotiations with the government of the Republic of Moldova to terminate the illegal state of occupation and annexation and the withdrawal of Soviet troops from its national territory, decides that no other laws should be respected on its territory but those that are in conformity with the republic's constitution, laws and all other legal acts adopted by the legally constituted organs of the Republic of Moldova, guarantees the exercise of social, economic, cultural and political rights for all citizens of the Republic of Moldova, including those of national, ethnic, religious and linguistic groups, in conformity with the provisions of the Helsinki Final Act and documents adopted afterwards, as well as the Paris Charta for a new Europe. SO HELP US GOD! Adopted in Chisinau, by the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova on this day, the 27th of August, 1991. ************* BIBLIOGRAPHY -- Moldova (Belarus and Moldava) Chapter 1 Adamovich, Anthony. Opposition to Sovietization in Belorussian Literature, 1917-1957. New York: Scarecrow Press, 1958. Amnesty International. Amnesty International Report, 1994. New York: 1994. Association of Byelorussians in Great Britain. Letters to Gorbachev: New Documents from Soviet Byelorussia. (2d ed.) London: 1987. Belarus. Ministerstva zamyezhnykh spraw. Infarmatsyyny-kamyertsyyny tsentr. Respublika Belarus': Mahchymastsi dzelavoha supratsownitstva (Respublika Belarus': Vozmozhnosti delovogo sotrudnichestva) (The Republic of Belarus: Prospects for Business Cooperation). Minsk: 1992. "Belorussia." Pages 104-7 in The Dorling Kindersley World Reference Atlas. London: Dorling Kindersley, 1994. Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Mission to the United Nations. Statement by H.E. Vyacheslav F. Kebich, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Byelorussian SSR in the General Debate at the 45th Session of the UN General Assembly. (Press Release.) New York: September 26, 1990, 8. "Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic." Pages 830-33 in The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. (Macropaedia, 2.) Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1975. Bird, Thomas E. "Byelorussian Literature." Pages 374-76 in Leonard S. Klein, ed., Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century, 1. (Rev. ed.) New York: Frederick Ungar, 1981. Bird, Thomas E. "Orthodoxy in Byelorussia, 1917-1980," Zapisy, 17, 1983, 144-213. Blum, Jakub, and Vera Rich, eds. The Image of the Jew in Soviet Literature: The Post-Stalin Period. New York: Ktav, 1984. Borushko, V.F. Belorussiya: Lyudi, sobytiya, fakty. (3d ed.) Minsk: Byelarus, 1989. "Bund." Page 368 in The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. (Micropaedia, 2.) Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1975. Burant, Stephen R. "Belarus and the 'Belarusian Irredenta' in Lithuania," Nationalities Papers. Charleston, Illinois: forthcoming 1995. Burant, Stephen R. "Foreign Policy and National Identity: A Comparison of Ukraine and Belarus," Europe-Asia Studies [Abingdon, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom], forthcoming November 1995. Burant, Stephen R. "International Relations in a Regional Context: Poland and Its Eastern Neighbours--Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine," Europe-Asia Studies [Abingdom, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom], 45, No. 3, 1993, 395-418. Burant, Stephen R. "Polish-Belarusian Relations," RFE/RL Research Report [Munich], 1, No. 37, September 18, 1992, 41-45. "Byelorussians." Pages 131-32 in Amiram Gonen, ed., The Encyclopedia of the Peoples of the World. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1993. Byelorussian Tristan. Trans., Zora Kipel. (Garland Library of Medieval Literature Series, 59. Series B.) New York: Garland Press, 1988. Center for International Health Information/ISTI. Belarus: USAID Health Profile (Selected Data). [Final draft.] Arlington, Virginia: 1992. "Chernobyl Accident." Page 171 in The New Encyclopedia Britannica. (Micropaedia, 3.) Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1992. "Council of Europe Rules Belarus Ineligible Due to Election Shortcomings," Summary of World Broadcasts [Caversham Park, Reading, United Kingdom], Part 1-Former USSR, Third Series, SU/2324, June 8, 1995, D/3-D/4. Curtis, Glenn E., ed. Poland: A Country Study. Washington: GPO, 1994. The Dorling Kindersley World Reference Atlas. London: Dorling Kindersley, 1994. The Europa World Year Book, 1994. (2 vols.) London: Europa, 1994. The Europa World Year Book, 1995. (2 vols.) London: Europa, 1995. Galeotti, Mark. "The Belarusian Army--An Example of Successful Reform?" Jane's Intelligence Review [Coulsdon, Surrey, United Kingdom], 7, No. 6, June 1995, 258-60. Glover, Jeffrey. "Outlook for Belarus." Pages 89-104 in Review and Outlook for the Former Soviet Union. Washington: PlanEcon, August 1995. Gonen, Amiram, ed. The Encyclopedia of the Peoples of the World. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1993. Gregory, Paul M., and Jeffrey S. Glover, "Outlook for Belarus." Pages 111-27 in Review and Outlook for the Former Soviet Union. Washington: PlanEcon, March 1995. Grishan, Igor'. "I eto vsë o nas," Sovetskaya Belorussiya [Minsk], June 4, 1992, 1. "History of the Baltic States." Pages 670-76 in The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. (Macropaedia, 2.) Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1975. Hlebowicz, Adam. "Przyszlosc Kosciola katolickiego na Bialorusi" (The Future of the Catholic Church in Belarus), Wiez [Warsaw], January, 1994, 138. Hlobenko, M., V. Kubijovyc, and O. Ohloblyn. "Belorussia." Pages 194-99 in Volodymyr Kubijovyc, ed., Encyclopedia of Ukraine, 1. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984. Hockstader, Lee. "Belarus Slowly Drifts Toward Moscow Orbit," Washington Post, January 28, 1994, A20. "How Belarus Will Sink," Foreign Report [London], August 25, 1994, 5-6. Internal Monetary Fund. Belarus. (Economic Review Series.) Washington: 1992. International Monetary Fund. Belarus. (Economic Review Series.) Washington: 1994. "In the Slav Shadowlands," Economist [London], 335, No. 7915, May 20, 1995, 47-49. Kasiak, Ivan. Byelorussia: Historical Outline. London: Byelorussian Central Council, 1989. Katz, Zev, ed. Handbook of Major Soviet Nationalities. New York: Free Press, 1975. Kipel, Vitaut. "Byelorussians." Pages 88-107 in Barbara Cunningham, ed., The New Jersey Ethnic Experience. Union City, New Jersey: William H. Wise and Company, 1977. Kipel, Vitaut, and Zora Kipel, eds. Byelorussian Statehood: Reader and Bibliography. New York: Byelorussian Institute of Arts and Sciences, 1988. Klein, Leonard S., ed. Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century. (Rev. ed.) New York: Frederick Ungar, 1981. Kubijovyc, Volodymyr, ed. Encyclopedia of Ukraine. (5 vols.) Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984. "Latvia and Belarus Sign Transport and Communications Agreement," Summary of World Broadcasts [Caversham Park, Reading, United Kingdom], Part 1-Former USSR, Third Series, SU/2308, May 20, 1995, E/3. Lerner Publications Company. Geography Department. Belarus. (Then and Now Series.) Minneapolis: 1993. Lubachko, Ivan S. Belorussia under Soviet Rule, 1917-1957. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1972. McMillin, Arnold B. A History of Byelorussian Literature: From Its Origins to the Present Day. Giessen, Germany: Wilhelm Schmitz Verlag, 1977. Magocsi, Paul Robert. Historical Atlas of East Central Europe. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1993. Magocsi, Paul Robert. Ukraine: A Historical Atlas. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985. Markus, Ustina. "Belarus: Slowly Awakening to New Realities," RFE/RL Research Report [Munich], 2, No. 1, January 7, 1994, 42-46. Markus, Ustina. "Belarus: You Can't Go Home Again?" Current History, 93, No. 585, October 1994, 337-41. Markus, Ustina. "Belarus a 'Weak Link' in Eastern Europe?" RFE/RL Research Report [Munich], 2, No. 49, December 10, 1993, 21-27. Markus, Ustina. "Business as Usual with Lukashenka," Transition, 1, No. 8, May 26, 1995, 57-61. Markus, Ustina. "Lukashenka's Victory," Transition, 1, No. 14, August 11, 1995, 75-78. Markus, Ustina. "Missed Opportunities in Foreign Policy," Transition, 1, No. 15, August 25, 1995, 62-66. Marples, David R. "The Legacy of the Chernobyl Disaster," RFE/RL Research Bulletin [Munich], 10, No. 4, February 16, 1993, 4-5. Marples, David R. "Post-Soviet Belarus' and the Impact of Chernobyl'," Post-Soviet Geography, 33, No. 7, September 1992, 419-31. Maryniak, Irena. "Democracy's Playground," Index on Censorship [London], 22, No. 3, March 1993, 4. Maryniak, Irena. "Language and the Nation," Index on Censorship [London], 22, No. 3, March 1993, 6. Maryniak, Irena. "A Matter of Duty," Index on Censorship [London], 22, No. 3, March 1993, 5. The Military Balance, 1994-1995. London: Brassey's for International Institute for Strategic Studies, October 1994. Morris, William, ed. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976. Rich, Vera. "`First Come, First Served,'" Catholic World Report, January 1993, 10-14. Rich, Vera. "Jewish Themes and Characters in Belorussians Texts." Pages 100-271 in Jakub Blum and Vera Rich, eds., The Image of the Jew in Soviet Literature: The Post-Stalin Period. New York: Ktav, 1984. Rich, Vera. Like Water, Like Fire: An Anthology of Byelorussian Poetry from 1828 to the Present Day. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1971. "Russia, Belarus Scrap Border Checkpoints," Washington Post, May 27, 1995, A26. Sadouski, John. A History of the Byelorussians in Canada. Belleville, Ontario: Mika, 1981. "Scandals in Belarus," Foreign Report [London], January 26, 1995, 7. The Statesman's Year-Book, 1994-1995. Ed., Brian Hunter. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994. The Statesman's Year-Book, 1995-1996. Ed., Brian Hunter. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995. "Tatars." Pages 590-91 in Amiram Gonen, ed., The Encyclopedia of the Peoples of the World. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1993. Umbach, Frank. "Back to the Future?--The Security Policy of Belarus," Jane's Intelligence Review [Coulsdon, Surrey, United Kingdom], 5, No. 9, September 1993, 410-14. "Union of Brest-Litovsk." Page 257 in The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. (Micropaedia, 2.) Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1975. "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics." Pages 941-1090 in The New Encyclopedia Britannica. (Macropaedia, 28.) Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1992. United States. Agency for International Development. "U.S. Government Assistance to and Cooperative Activities with the New Independent States of the Former Soviet Union: Quarterly Report, April-June 1995." Washington: 1995. United States. Central Intelligence Agency. Handbook of International Economic Statistics, 1994. (CPAS 94-10001.) Washington: September 1994. United States. Central Intelligence Agency. USSR Energy Atlas. Washington: 1985. United States. Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook, 1993. Washington: 1993. United States. Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook, 1994. Washington: 1994. United States. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Report on the Belarusian Presidential Election: June 23, 1994, and July 10, 1994. Washington: July 1994. United States. Department of State. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1994. (Report submitted to United States Congress, 104th, 1st Session, Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, and House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs.) Washington: GPO, 1995. Urban, Michael. An Algebra of Soviet Power: Elite Circulation in the Belorussian Republic, 1966-1986. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Vakar, Nicholas P. Belorussia: The Making of a Nation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1956. World Bank. Belarus: Energy Sector Review. Washington: April 21, 1995. World Bank. Statistical Handbook: States of the Former USSR. (Studies of Economies in Transformation, No. 3.) Washington: 1992. World Radio TV Handbook, 47. Ed., Andrew G. Sennitt. Amsterdam: 1993. World Radio TV Handbook, 49. Ed., Andrew G. Sennitt. Amsterdam: 1995. World Resources Institute. The 1994 Information Please Environmental Almanac. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994. Zaprudnik, Jan. Belarus: At a Crossroads in History. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1993. Zaprudnik, Jan. "Belorussia and the Belorussians." Pages 49-71 in Zev Katz, ed., Handbook of Major Soviet Nationalities. New York: Free Press, 1975. Zaprudnik, Jan. "Belorussia Reawakening," Problems of Communism, 38, July-August 1989, 36-52. Zaprudnik, Jan, and Thomas Bird. The Uprising in Byelorussia: "Peasants' Truth" and "Letters from Beneath the Gallows" (Texts and Commentaries). New York: Kreceuski Foundation, 1980. Zickel, Raymond E., ed. Soviet Union: A Country Study. (Area Handbook Series.) Washington: GPO, 1992. (Various issues of the following periodicals were also used in the preparation of this chapter: Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Daily Report: Central Eurasia; and British Broadcasting Corporatation, Summary of World Broadcasts [Caversham Park, Reading, United Kingdom].) Chapter 2 "Adunaria Republana a Alegatorilor" (Republican Meeting of Voters), Moldova Socialista [Chisinau], February 13, 1990, 1-5. Amnesty International. Amnesty International Report, 1993. New York: 1993. Arutyunyan, Yu. V. Opyt etnosotsiologicheskogo issledovaniya obraza zhizni: Po materialam Moldavskoy SSR. Moscow: Nauka, 1980. Bachman, Ronald D., ed. Romania: A Country Study. Washington: GPO, 1991. Bater, James H. The Soviet Scene: A Geographical Perspective. New York: Edward Arnold, 1989. Berbekaru, G. "În Spiritual Democratizazii" (In the Spirit of Democratization), Moldova Socialista [Chisinau], June 13, 1989, 4. Bernstam, Mikhail. "The Demography of Soviet Ethnic Groups in World Perspective." Pages 314-68 in Robert Conquest, ed., The Last Empire: Nationality and the Soviet Future. Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press, 1986. "Biografile Membrilor Guvernului Republicii Moldova" (Biographies of the Members of the Government of Moldova), Moldova Suverana [Chisinau], August 20, 1992, 1-2. Bremmer, Ian, and Ray Taras, eds. Nations and Politics in the Soviet Successor States. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Bruchis, Michael. Nations, Nationalities, People: A Study of the Nationalities Policy of the Communist Party in Soviet Moldavia. New York: Columbia University Press, 1984. Bruchis, Michael. One Step Back, Two Steps Forward: On the Language Policy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in the National Republics (Moldavia: A Look Back, a Survey, and Perspectives, 1924-1980). Boulder, Colorado: East European Monographs, 1982. Bruchis, Michael. The USSR: Language and Realities: Nations, Leaders, and Scholars. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988. Buckmaster, Barbara. "Bessarabia." Pages 546-47 in Encyclopedia Britannica, 3. Chicago: Benton, 1965. Center for International Health Information/ISTI. Moldova: USAID Health Profile (Selected Data). Arlington, Virginia: 1992. Clark, Charles Upson. Bessarabia: Russia and Roumania on the Black Sea. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1927. Clines, Francis X. "Six Killed in Violence in Moldova," New York Times, November 3, 1990, 7. Comnène, N.P. Roumania Through the Ages: An Historical, Political, and Ethnographical Atlas (La terre roumaine à travers les ages: Atlas historique, politique, et ethnographique). Lausanne: Librairie Payot et Cie, 1919. Crowther, William E. "Moldova after Independence," Current History, 93, No. 585, October 1994, 342-47. Crowther, William E. "The Politics of Ethnonational Mobilization: Nationalism and Reform in Soviet Moldavia," Russian Review, 50, No. 2, April 1991, 183-203. Crowther, William E. "Romania and Moldavian Political Dynamics." Pages 239-59 in Daniel Nelson, ed., Romania after Tyranny. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1992. "Cu Privire la Alegerile de Deputati al Poporului al RSS Moldovenesti" (Concerning Elections of People's Deputies of the Moldovan SSR), Moldova Socialista [Chisinau], November 29, 1989, 3. Dima, Nicholas. From Moldavia to Moldova: The Soviet-Romanian Territorial Dispute. Boulder, Colorado: East European Monographs, 1991. Dima, Nicholas. "Recent Changes in Soviet Moldavia," East European Quarterly, 24, No. 2, Summer 1991, 167-78. Dima, Nicholas. "The Soviet Political Upheaval of the 1980s: The Case of Moldova," Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies, 16, No. 1, Spring 1991, 39-58. "The Dniestr Republic: The Stalinist State Format Kept in Readiness," Soviet Analyst: An Intelligence Commentary, 22, No. 5, 1993, 1-12. Dobbs, Michael. "Three Former Soviet Republics Decline to Sign CIS Charter," Washington Post, January 23, 1993, A15. Donos, Alexandru. "Nu trebuie sa învinga birocratii" (The Bureaucracy Does Not Have to Win), Literatura si arta [Chisinau], No. 4, February 1, 1990, 1. "Eparchy." Pages 831-32 in Volodymyr Kubijovyc, ed., Encyclopedia of Ukraine, 1. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984. Esinencu, T., ed. Republica Moldova. Chisinau: Editura Universitatis, 1992. The Europa World Year Book, 1991. (2 vols.) London: Europa, 1991. The Europa World Year Book, 1993. (2 vols.) London: Europa, 1993. The Europa World Year Book, 1994. (2 vols.) London: Europa, 1994. Eyal, Jonathan. "Moldovans." Pages 123-41 in Graham Smith, ed., The Nationalities Question in the Soviet Union. New York: Longman, 1990. Fane, Darya. "Moldova: Breaking Loose from Moscow." Pages 191-53 in Ian Bremmer and Ray Taras, eds., Nations and Politics in the Soviet Successor States. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. The First Book of Demographics for the Republics of the Former Soviet Union, 1951-1990. Shady Side, Maryland: New World Demographics, 1992. Fischer-Galati, Stephen. "Moldavia and the Moldavians." Pages 415-33 in Zev Katz, ed., Handbook of Major Soviet Nationalities. New York: Free Press, 1975. French, Richard Antony. "Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic." Pages 650-51 in Encyclopedia Britannica, 15. Chicago: Benton, 1965. "Gagauz Proclaim Republic; Situation 'Explosive,'" Moscow Domestic Service [Moscow], August 21, 1990. Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Daily Report: Soviet Union. (FBIS-SOV-90-162.) August 21, 1990, 92. Gall, Carlotta. "Moldova, Transdnestr Agree to Pursue Peace," Moscow Times [Moscow] (International Weekly Edition), 2, No. 34, January 8, 1995, 20. Georgescu, Vlad. The Romanians. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1991. Gold, Bernard. "Outlook for Moldova," Review and Outlook for the Former Soviet Republics. Washington: PlanEcon, March 1995. Grosul, Ya.S., and N.A. Mokhov. "Istoricheskiy ocherk" section of "Moldavskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika." Pages 425-30 in A.M. Prokhorov, ed., Bol'shaya Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya. Moscow: Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya, 1974. Hockstader, Lee. "In Moldova's East Bank, Separatists Still Cling to the Bad Old Days," Washington Post, March 25, 1994, A31. "Hotarîrea Sovietului suprem al RSS Moldova" (Decision of the Supreme Soviet of the Moldovan SSR), Moldova Socialista [Chisinau], June 26, 1990, 2-3. "În Comisa Electorala Centrala Pentru Alegerile de Deputati al porporului al RSS Moldovenesti" (In the Central Electoral Commission for the Election of Deputies of the People of the Moldovan SSR), Moldova Socialista [Chisinau], March 1, 1990, 1. International Monetary Fund. Common Issues and Interrepublic Relations in the Former USSR. (Economic Review Series.) Washington: 1992. International Monetary Fund. Moldova. (Economic Review Series.) Washington: 1992. International Monetary Fund. Moldova. (IMF Economic Reviews.) Washington: 1993. Ionel, S. "Mitinguri în timpal Lucrului" (Meetings During Work Time), Moldova Socialista [Chisinau], May 4, 1990, 3. Ionescu, Dan. "Back to Romanian?" Transition, 1, No. 15, August 25, 1995, 54-57. Jane's Sentinel, The Unfair Advantage. Commonwealth of Independent States: Regional Security Assessment. Ed., Paul Beaver. Coulsdon, Surrey, United Kingdom: 1994. Jelavich, Barbara. History of the Balkans: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983. King, Charles. "Moldova and the New Bessarabian Question," World Today [London], 49, July 1993, 135-39. King, Charles. "Moldovan Identity and the Politics of Pan-Romanianism," Slavic Review, 53, No. 2, Summer 1994, 345-60. Kondratov, E. "Moldavia Hit by Three-way Ethnic Strife," Current Digest of the Soviet Press, 42, No. 43, November 28, 1990, 1-7. Kozlov, Viktor. The Peoples of the Soviet Union. Trans., Pauline M. Tiffen. (The Second World Series.) Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988. Landgren, Signe. "Post-Soviet Threat to Security." Pages 546-47 in SIPRI Yearbook, 1992: World Armaments and Disarmament. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. "La sesiunea Sovietul Suprem al RSSM" (At the Secession of the Supreme Soviet of the MSSR), Moldova Socialista [Chisinau], May 13, 1990, 1-3. Lerner Publications Company. Geography Department. Moldova. (Then and Now Series.) Minneapolis: 1993. Lucinschi, P.K. "Aspectete Politice al Restructurare si Activitatea Partidului Comunist Moldovenesti sub Conditiile Noi" (Political Aspects of Restructuring and the Activity of the CPM under the New Conditions), Moldova Socialista [Chisinau], March 3, 1990, 1-3. Lucinschi, P.K. "Ob itogakh XXVIII s"yezda KPSS" (On the Results of the XXVIII CPSU Congress: Report of P.K. Lucinschi, First Secretary of the CC, CPM) [speech to the Central Committee of the CPM], Sovetskaya Moldova [Kishinëv], August 6, 1990, 2-3. "Mîine Iarasi la Aleger," Moldova Socialista [Chisinau], March 17, 1990, 4. The Military Balance, 1992-1993. London: International Institute for Strategic Studies, 1992. The Military Balance, 1993-1994. London: International Institute for Strategic Studies, 1993. The Military Balance, 1994-1995. London: International Institute for Strategic Studies, 1994. "Moldavia." Page 650 in Encyclopedia Britannica, 15. Chicago: Benton, 1965. Moldova. Report of the Government of Moldova for the World Social Summit, 6-12 March 1995, Copenhagen. Chisinau: 1995. Moldova. The Republic of Moldova. Chisinau: Moldpres, 1995. Moldova. Departamentul de Stat pentru statistica al Republicii Moldova. Anuar statistic: Economia Nationala a Republicii Moldova, 1990 (Narodnoye khozyaystvo respubliki Moldova). Eds., N. Pasternacov and V. Frunza. Chisinau: Universitas, 1991. Moldova. Departamentul de Stat pentru statistica al Republicii Moldova. Economia Nationala a Republicii Moldova. Chisinau: 1992. "Moldovan Women Force Out General," New York Times, June 18, 1995, 10. Morar, A., N. Movilyanu, and I. Shishkanu. "Vvedeniye latinitsi: kak eto bylo" (The Introduction of the Latin Alphabet: How It Was), Sovetskaya Moldavia [Kishinëv], June 17, 1989, 3. Morar, A., N. Movilyanu, and I. Siskanu. "Cum a fost arestata Grafia Latina" (How the Latin Alphabet Was Arrested), Moldova Socialista [Kishinëv], June 17, 1989, 3. "Narodnyye deputati Moldavskoy SSR" (People's Deputies of the Moldavian SSR), Sovetskaya Moldaviya [Kishinëv], March 17, 1990, 4. Nedelciuc, Vasile. The Republic of Moldova: Moldova, Basarabia, Transnistria: A Short History: State Organization, National Problem, Transnistria Conflict. Trans., Eugenia Nadolschi. Chisinau: n.p., June 1992. Nedelciuc, Vasile. The Republic of Moldova: Moldova, Basarabia, Transnistria: A Short History: State Organization, National Problem, Transnistria Conflict. Trans., Eugenia Nadolschi. Chisinau: n.p., July 1992. Nelson, Daniel, ed. Romania after Tyranny. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1992. Newton, Melanie, ed., and Vera Tolz, comp. The USSR in 1989: A Record of Events. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1990. Newton, Melanie, ed., and Vera Tolz, comp. The USSR in 1990: A Record of Events. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1992. "Pale." Page 689 in Encyclopedia Britannica, 7. (Micropedia.) Chicago: 1975. Patras, Mihai. "Migrarea: Statasul Problemului si Calea Rezolvarea lui sub conditiile auto-financiare" (Migration: The State of the Problem and the Path to Its Resolution under Conditions of Self-Financing), Literatura si arta [Chisinau], No. 6, 1990, 6. Petersen, Phillip. "Moldova--Improving the Prospects for Peace," Jane's Intelligence Review [Coulsdon, Surrey, United Kingdom], 6, No. 9, September 1994, 396-400. "Petru Lucinschi, Presedintele Parlamentului Republicii Moldova" (Petru Lucinschi, President of the Parliament of Moldova), Moldova Suverana [Chisinau], February 6, 1993, 1. Popovici, Andrei. The Political Status of Bessarabia. Washington: Georgetown University, Ransdell for School of Foreign Service, 1931. Postolachi, Vasile. "Speranta ramine în turn doi" (Hope Remains in the Second Round), Literatura si arta [Chisinau], No. 9, March 1, 1990, 1. "Russia and Moldova Reach Accord on Dniester Region," New York Times, July 22, 1992, A9. "Russia, Moldova Agree on Pullout," Washington Post, August 11, 1994, A24. Ryan, Michael, and Richard Prentice. Social Trends in the Soviet Union from 1950. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987. Seton-Watson, Robert William. A History of the Roumanians. London: Archon Books, 1963. Shaw, Geoffrey William. "Rumania." Pages 635-52 in Encyclopedia Britannica, 19. Chicago: Benton, 1965. Sheffield, Sharon S. "U.S. Agricultural Credits and Aid to Republics Total over $6 Billion." Pages 39-45 in International Agriculture and Trade Report: Former USSR. (Situation and Outlook Series.) (RS-93-1.) Washington: Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, 1993. Shend, Jaclyn Y., Sharon S. Sheffield, and Christian J. Foster. "Projected 1993-94 Grain Imports Will Not Make Up for Fall in Output." Pages 46-65 in International Agriculture and Trade Report: Former USSR. (Situation and Outlook Series.) (RS-93-1.) Washington: Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, 1993. Snegur, Mircea. "Poporul Trebuie Întrebat si Ascultat" (The People Must Ask and Be Heard) [speech], Moldova Suverana [Chisinau], December 26, 1992, 1-2. Socor, Vladimir. "Moldavia Builds a New State," RFE/RL Research Report [Munich], 1, No. 1, January 3, 1992, 42-45. Solomon, Andrew. "Republics Heavily Dependent on Food Imports." Pages 34-38 in International Agriculture and Trade Report: Former USSR. (Situation and Outlook Series.) (RS-93-1.) Washington: Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, 1993. Soviet Union. Ministerstvo geologii i okhrany nedr SSSR. Glavnoye upravleniye geodezii i kartografii. Atlas Ukrainskoy SSR i Moldavskoy SSR. Ed., V.G. Bondarchuk. Moscow: 1962. Soviet Union. Ministerstvo geologii i okhrany nedr SSSR. Glavnoye upravleniye geodezii i kartografii. "Po Moldavii, turistskaya karta." Moscow: 1989 (map). Spector, Sherman David. "The Moldavian S.S.R., 1964-1974." Pages 260-69 in George W. Simmonds, ed., Nationalism in the USSR and Eastern Europe. Detroit: University of Detroit Press, 1977. The Statesman's Year-Book, 1993-1994. Ed., Brian Hunter. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993. Sukhopara, Fyodor Nikolayevich. "Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic." Pages 301-4 in The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. (Macropaedia, 12.) Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1975. Takiy, Aleksandr. "Complex Situation Persists in Moldavia," TASS [Moscow], August 2, 1990. Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Daily Report: Soviet Union. (FBIS-SOV-90- 190.) August 3, 1990, 61. Tolz, Vera, and Melanie Newton, eds. The USSR in 1991: A Record of Events. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1993. "Transnistria." Page 1939 in Leon E. Seltzer, ed., The Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World. New York: Columbia University Press, 1962. Uluk, P. "Automatizarya produktsiyey." Pages 242-43 in I. Vartichan, ed., Yenchiklopediya Sovetike Moldovenyaske. Kishinëv: Redaktsiya princhipale a Yenchiklopediyey Sovetiche Moldovenesht', 1981. United Nations. Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis. Demographic Yearbook (Annuaire démographique), 1992. (44th ed.) New York: 1994. United Nations. Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis. Statistical Yearbook (Annuaire statistique), 1990-91. (38th ed.) New York: 1993. United States. Central Intelligence Agency. Handbook of International Economic Statistics, 1994. (CPAS 94- 10001.) Washington: September 1994. United States. Central Intelligence Agency. Top Officials in Moldova. Washington: 1992. United States. Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook, 1992. Washington: 1992. United States. Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook, 1993-94. Washington: Brassey's, 1993-94. United States. Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook, 1994. Washington: 1994. United States. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Report on the Moldovan Parliamentary Elections, February 27, 1994: Chisinau, Northern Moldova, Transdniestria, Varnitsa. Washington: April 1994. United States. Department of Agriculture. Agriculture Marketing Service. Transportation and Marketing Division. An Overview of Agricultural Transportation in the Former USSR. (Foreign Agriculture Economic Report, No. 249.) Washington: 1993. United States. Department of Agriculture. Economic Research Service. Former USSR: Agriculture and Trade Report. (Situation and Outlook Series.) (RS-92-1.) Washington: 1992. United States. Department of Agriculture. Economic Research Service. International Agriculture and Trade Report: Former USSR. (Situation and Outlook Series.) (RS-93-1.) Washington: 1993. United States. Department of Agriculture. Foreign Agricultural Service. "Moldova." Page 162 in Foreign Agriculture, 1992. Washington: 1992. United States. Department of Commerce. International Trade Administration. Business Information Service for the Newly Independent States. Economic Overview of Moldova. Washington: 1992. United States. Department of State. "Fact Sheet: Moldova," U.S. Department of State Dispatch, 5, No. 18, May 2, 1994. Ureche, Grigore, Miron Costin, and Ion Neculce. Letopisetul Tarii Moldovei (Chronicle of the Moldovan Nation). Chisinau: Editura Hyperion, 1990. Vartichan, I., ed. Moldavskaya sovetskaya sotsialisticheskaya respublika. Kishinëv: Glavnaya redaktsiya Moldavskoy Sovetskoy Entsiklopedii, 1979. Vartichan, I., ed. Sovetskaya Moldaviya: Kratkaya entsiklopediya. Kishinëv: Glavnaya redaktsiya Moldavskoy Sovetskoy Entsiklopedii, 1982. Verona, Sergiu. "Moldova Republic: Basic Facts," CRS Report for Congress. (92-182F.) Washington: Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, 1992. Verona, Sergiu. "Moldova Republic: Basic Facts," CRS Report for Congress. (94-656F.) Washington: Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, August 12, 1994. "The Western States." Pages 275-94 in Daniel C. Diller, ed., Russia and the Independent States. Washington: Congressional Quarterly, 1993. Wixman, Ronald. The Peoples of the USSR: An Ethnographic Handbook. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1984. World Bank. Moldovia: Moving to a Market Economy. (World Bank Country Study.) Washington: 1994. World Bank. Statistical Handbook: States of the Former USSR. (Studies of Economies in Transformation, No. 3.) Washington: 1992. World Radio TV Handbook, 47. Ed., Andrew G. Sennitt. Amsterdam: 1993. World Radio TV Handbook, 49. Ed., Andrew G. Sennitt. Amsterdam: 1995. Zagaievschi, Virgiliu. "Antirestructurarea: Schite anatomice" (Anti-Restructuring: An Anatomical Sketch), Literatura si arta [Chisinau], No. 4, January 25, 1990, 1-2. Zagaievschi, Virgiliu. "Dos coiful sus caciula!" (Down with the Helmet, Up with the Cap!), Literatura si arta [Chisinau], No. 11, March 15, 1990, 1. Zagaievschi, Virgiliu. "Moldova alege viitorul" (Moldova Chooses the Future), Literatura si arta [Chisinau], No. 7, February 15, 1990, 1-4. Zelenchuk, Valintin Stepanich. "Populatia Moldovei în Perioada Feudalismului si Capitalismului" (The Population of Moldova in the Period of Feudalism and Capitalism). Pages 7-14 in V.S. Zelenchuk and E.M. Zagorodnaya, eds., Populatia RSS Moldovenesti. Kishinëv: Editura Kartiya Moldovenyaska, 1983. Zelenchuk, Valintin Stepanich. "Populatia Tinutului în Perioada Formarii RSS Moldovenesti si în Anii chelui de-al Doalia Razboi Mondial." Pages 21-22 in V.S. Zelenchuk and E.M. Zagorodnaya, eds., Populatia RSS Moldovenesti. Kishinëv: Editura Kartiya Moldovenyaska, 1983. Zickel, Raymond E., ed. Soviet Union: A Country Study. Washington: GPO, 1991. (Various issues of the following peridocials were also used in the preparation of this chapter: Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Daily Report: Central Eurasia; and British Broadcasting Corporatation, Summary of World Broadcasts [Caversham Park, Reading, United Kingdom].) ************ GLOSSARY -- Moldova (Belarus and Moldova) apparatchik Russian colloquial word for someone who has been engaged full time in the work of the CPSU (q.v.) and/or the republic communist parties. Sometimes used in a derogatory sense. August coup d'état On August 19, 1991, high-ranking officials of the CPSU (q.v.) and the government of the Soviet Union (q.v.) announced that they had formed the State Committee for the State of Emergency and had removed Mikhail S. Gorbachev as the head of state. Leaders of most of the Soviet republics and many foreign leaders denounced the coup. Some key military commanders refused to deploy their forces in support of the coup leaders, and by August 22 the coup had collapsed. As a consequence of the failed coup, the CPSU and the Soviet central government were severely discredited, Gorbachev resigned, ten of the fifteen Soviet republics declared or reaffirmed their independence (including Belarus and Moldova), and the Congress of People's Deputies (q.v.) dissolved the Soviet Union and itself after transferring state power to a transitional government. Belarusian ruble The monetary unit of Belarus, introduced in May 1992. In March 1995, the exchange rate was 11,669 Belarusian rubles per US$1. The Belarusian ruble is convertible, within limits. Bessarabia (Basarabia in Romanian) Former principality, originally composed of lands owned by the Basarab Dynasty of Walachia (q.v.), extending inland from the Black Sea coast and bounded on the west by the Prut River and on the east by the Nistru River. In 1812 the name was extended to all the land between the Prut and Nistru rivers by the Russian Empire (q.v.), to which Bessarabia was awarded by the Treaty of Bucharest. The bulk of Bessarabia makes up most of the present-day Republic of Moldova. Bolshevik A member of the radical group within the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, which, under Vladimir I. Lenin's leadership, staged the Bolshevik Revolution. In March 1918, the Bolsheviks formed the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) and began calling themselves Communists (q.v.). That party was the precursor of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU-- q.v.). Bukovina (Bucovina in Romanian; Bukovyna in Ukrainian) An area in the eastern foothills of the Carpathian Mountains populated principally by ethnic Ukrainians and Romanians. Over the centuries, Bukovina has belonged to various states, including Kievan Rus', Moldova, and Austria-Hungary. In 1940 the northern half of Bukovina became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, while the southern half remained part of Romania. Bund(General Union of Jewish Workers in Russia and Poland) A Jewish socialist movement founded in Vilnius in 1897 by Jewish workers and intellectuals in the Russian Empire (q.v.). The Bund divided into two groups in 1920. The larger group merged with the Bolshevik (q.v.) branch of the communist party, while the minority remained independent until it was suppressed by the Bolshevik government. The Bund was active in Poland between the two world wars. chernozem Russian word meaning black earth. Rich, highly fertile soil. collective farm (kolkhoz in Russian) Under the communist (q.v.) regime, an agricultural "cooperative" where peasants worked collectively on state-owned land under the direction of party-approved plans and leaders and were paid wages based partly on the success of their harvest. collectivization Joseph V. Stalin's policy of confiscating privately owned agricultural lands and facilities and consolidating them, along with farmers and their families, into large collective farms (q.v.) and state farms (q.v.). Comecon (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance; sometimes cited as CMEA or CEMA) A multilateral economic alliance created in 1949, ostensibly to promote economic development of member states through cooperation and specialization, but actually to enforce Soviet economic domination of Eastern Europe. Members shortly before its official demise in January 1991 were Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Hungary, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union, and Vietnam. Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Created on December 8, 1991, with the signing of the Minsk Agreement by Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. The Alma-Ata Declaration, signed by eleven heads of state on December 21, 1991, expanded membership in the CIS to all other former Soviet republics except Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The CIS is a confederation of former Soviet republics in which "coordinating bodies" oversee common interests in the economies, foreign policy, and defense of its members. communism/communist The official ideology of the Soviet Union (q.v.), based on Marxism-Leninism, which provided for a system of authoritarian government in which the CPSU (q.v.) alone controlled state-owned means of production. It sought to establish a society in which the state withered away and goods and services were distributed equitably. A communist is an adherent or advocate of communism. Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) Established as an international process in 1972, the group in 1994 consisted of fifty-three nations, including all European countries, and sponsored joint sessions and consultations on political issues vital to European security. The Charter of Paris (1990) changed the CSCE from an ad hoc forum to an organization having permanent institutions. In 1992 new CSCE roles in conflict prevention and management were defined, potentially making CSCE the center of a Europe-based collective security system. In the early 1990s, however, applications of these instruments to conflicts in Yugoslavia and the Caucasus did not have a decisive impact. In January 1995, the organizations was renamed the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Congress of People's Deputies (S"yezd narodnykh deputatov in Russian) Established in 1988 by constitutional amendment. The highest organ (upper tier) of legislative and executive authority in the Soviet Union (q.v.). It elected the Supreme Soviet (q.v.), but ceased to exist at the demise of the Soviet Union. Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE Treaty) An agreement signed in 1990 by the member nations of the Warsaw Pact (q.v.) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to establish parity in conventional weapons between the two organizations from the Atlantic to the Urals. The treaty included a strict system of inspection and information exchange and remained in force, although not strictly observed by all parties, in the mid-1990s. Cossacks Originally peasants (primarily Ukrainian and Russian) who fled from bondage to the lower Dnepr and Don river regions to settle in the frontier areas separating fifteenth-century Muscovy, Poland, and the lands occupied by the Tatars. They later organized themselves into military formations to resist Tatar raids. Renowned as horsemen, they were absorbed into the army of the Russian Empire (q.v.) by the late eighteenth century. In the early 1990s, there were attempts to reestablish a Cossack military tradition in Ukraine. Council of Europe Founded in 1949, the Council of Europe is an organization overseeing intergovernmental cooperation in designated areas such as environmental planning, finance, sport, crime, migration, and legal matters. In 1994 the council had thirty-three members. CPSU (Communist Party of the Soviet Union) Since 1952 the official name of the communist party in the Soviet Union (q.v.). After the August coup d'état (q.v.), in which the party played a prominent role, Russian president Boris N. Yeltsin banned the party in Russia and ordered its property turned over to the government. The Communist Party of Belarus was banned in Belarus in August 1991, as was the Communist Party of Moldova in Moldova. Cyrillic alphabet An alphabet, based on Greek characters, that was created in the ninth century to serve as a medium for writing Orthodox texts translated from Greek into Old Church Slavonic (q.v.). Named for Cyril, the leader of the first religious mission from Constantinople to the Slavic peoples, Cyrillic is used by modern Russian, Belarusian, "Moldavian" (q.v.), and several other languages, both Slavic and non-Slavic. "Dnestr Moldavian Republic" An extralegal political entity, located on the left bank of the Nistru River, that declared its independence in September 1990. Established by Russian-speaking conservatives who wished to remain part of the Soviet Union. In 1995 the territory of the "Dnestr Republic" (as it was commonly known) consisted of all Moldovan land east of the Nistru River, with the exception of two enclaves bordering the river, one around Cosnita (northeast of Chisinau), and the other between Dubasari and Malovata to its northwest. In addition, the "Dnestr Republic" included territory on the west bank of the Nistru: the city of Tighina and an area to the southeast of the city that bordered on the river. enterprise A production establishment, such as a plant or a factory, in the communist (q.v.) era; not to be confused with a privately owned, Western-style business. eparchy An administrative district of the Orthodox and Uniate (q.v.) churches, usually headed by a bishop. Equivalent to a diocese in the Roman Catholic Church. A group of eparchies constitute a metropolitan see. ethnic Belorussian/Belarusian Person whose ethnic heritage is East Slavic and whose native language is Belorussian/Belarusian. ethnic Bulgarian Person whose ethnic heritage is South Slavic and whose native language is Bulgarian. ethnic Pole Person whose ethnic heritage is West Slavic and whose native language is Polish. ethnic Romanian Person whose ethnic heritage is Latin and whose native language is Romanian. ethnic Russian Person whose ethnic heritage is East Slavic and whose native language is Russian. ethnic Ukrainian Person whose ethnic heritage is East Slavic and whose native language is Ukrainian. European Union (EU) Successor organization to the European Community, officially established by ratification of the Maastricht Treaty of November 1993. The goal of the EU is closer economic unification of Western Europe, leading to a single monetary system and closer cooperation in matters of justice and foreign and security. In 1995 members consisted of Austria, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. exarchate An independent church within the Orthodox Church. The exarch, head of the exarchate, is an Eastern rite bishop who ranks below a patriarch and above a metropolitan. fiscal year (FY) A one-year period for financial accounting purposes, which can coincide with the calendar year. In both Belarus and Moldova, it coincides with the calendar year. glasnost Russian word meaning openness. Public discussion of issues; accessibility of information so that the public can become familiar with it and discuss it. Mikhail S. Gorbachev's policy of using the media to make information available on some controversial issues in order to provoke public discussion, challenge government and party bureaucrats, and mobilize greater support for his policy of perestroika (q.v.). gross domestic product (GDP) A measure of the total value of goods and services produced by the domestic economy of a country during a given period, usually one year. Obtained by adding the value contributed by each sector of the economy in the form of profits, compensation to employees, and depreciation (consumption of capital). Only domestic production is included, not income arising from investments and possessions owned abroad, hence the use of the word "domestic" to distinguish GDP from gross "national" product (GNP--q.v.). gross national product (GNP) The total market value of final goods and services produced by a country's economy during a year. Obtained by adding the gross domestic product (GDP--q.v.) and the income received from abroad by residents and by subtracting payments remitted abroad to nonresidents. Group of Seven The seven major noncommunist economic powers: Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States. International Monetary Fund (IMF) Established along with the World Bank (q.v.) in 1945, the IMF is specialized agency affiliated with the United Nations and responsible for stabilizing international exchange rates and payments. Its main function is to provide loans to its members (including industrialized and developing countries) when they experience balance of payments difficulties. These loans frequently have conditions that require substantial internal economic adjustments by the recipients, most of which are developing countries. Belarus and Moldova both became members of the IMF in 1992. KGB (Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti in Russian) Committee for State Security. The predominant Soviet security police organization since its establishment in 1954 as the successor to the MVD (Ministry of Internal Affairs; Ministerstvo vnutrennykh del, in Russian). In October 1991, when Mikhail S. Gorbachev decreed that the KGB be disbanded because of its involvement in the August coup d'état (q.v.), the assets and willing personnel of the KGB in Moldova were transferred to the new republic's government, to the Ministry of National Security. In Belarus the new government took control of the KGB but did not change its name. leu (pl., lei) The monetary unit of Moldova, introduced in November 1993. The exchange rate was 4.27 lei per US$1 at the beginning of 1995. The leu is convertible. Menshevik A member of a wing of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party before and during the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917. Unlike the Bolsheviks (q.v.), the Mensheviks believed in the gradual achievement of socialism by parliamentary methods. "Moldavian" (moldavskiy in Russian) Term used by the Soviet government to describe the language and nationality of the ethnic Romanians (q.v.) in Bessarabia (q.v.). Joseph V. Stalin claimed that their language and nationality were different and distinct from the language and nationality of the ethnic Romanians in Romania as a justification for creating the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1940. In actuality, the "Moldavian" language is a dialect of Romanian. Under the Soviet regime, "Moldavia" was used as the short form for the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. Moldova Former principality, one of two major historical regions inhabited by a Romanian-speaking population (along with Walachia, q.v.). Moldovan territory east of the Prut River was added to the original Bessarabia (q.v.), and the entire region was called Bessarabia when it was annexed by the Russian Empire (q.v.) in 1812. Also the name of a region in modern Romania. most-favored-nation status Under the provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), when one country accords another most-favored-nation status, it agrees to extend to that country the same trade concessions, such as lower tariffs or reduced nontariff barriers, that it grants to any other recipient having most-favored-nation status. The United States granted Moldova most-favored-nation status in 1992. Belarus was granted that status in 1993. Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact Agreement signed by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union (q.v.) on August 23, 1939, immediately preceding the German invasion of Poland, which began World War II. A secret protocol divided Poland between the two powers and gave Bessarabia (q.v.), Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and the eastern part of Poland to the Soviet Union. Also known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. net material product (NMP) The official measure of the value of goods and services produced in countries having a planned economy during a given period, usually a year. It approximates the term "gross national product" (GNP--q.v.) used by economists in the United States and in other countries having a market economy. New Economic Policy (NEP; Novaya ekonomicheskaya politika in Russian) Instituted in 1921, it let peasants sell produce on an open market and permitted small enterprises (q.v.) to be privately owned and operated. The NEP declined with forced collectivization (q.v.) of farms and was officially ended by Stalin in December 1929. Old Believers A sect of the Russian Orthodox Church that rejected the changes made by Patriarch Nikon in the mid-seventeenth century. Old Church Slavonic Also called Church Slavonic. The liturgical language of the Eastern Orthodox and Uniate (q.v.) churches in Slavic lands. perestroika Russian word meaning restructuring. Mikhail S. Gorbachev's campaign to revitalize the economy, communist party, and society by adjusting economic, political, and social mechanisms. Announced at the Twenty-Seventh Party Congress of the CPSU (q.v.) in August 1986. Polonize, Polonization The process of changing the national identity of non-Poles to one culturally similar to that of the Poles. Procuracy The agency responsible for the investigation and prosecution of lawbreakers. The Procuracy was subject to the authority of the CPSU (q.v.) and had limited purview over political matters. In Moldova the Procuracy (and its successor organization, the General Prosecution Office) was the subject of substantial controversy in discussions on constitutional reform in the early 1990s. raion (pl., raioane in Romanian; rayon/rayony in Belarusian and Russian) A low-level territorial and administrative subdivision, roughly equivalent to a county in the United States. Originally used by the Soviet Union. rayon See raion. Russian Empire Formally proclaimed by Tsar Peter the Great in 1721 and significantly expanded during the reign of Catherine II, becoming a major multinational state. It collapsed during the revolutions of 1917. Russianization The policy of several Soviet regimes promoting Russian as the national language of the Soviet Union. Russian was given equal and official status with local languages in most non-Russian republics; it was made the official language of the Soviet Union in state and diplomatic affairs, in the armed forces, and on postage stamps, currency, and military and civilian decorations. Russify, Russification A process of changing the national identity of non-Russians to one culturally similar to that of the Russians. An official policy of the Russian Empire (q.v.) although not of any Soviet regime. However, such assimilation often resulted from the policy of Russianization (q.v.), particularly in the case of ethnic Ukrainians, Belarusians, and non-Russian educated elites. Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics--USSR) Founded December 1922; dissolved in December 1991. The Soviet Union included the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (originally called the Moldavian Autonomous Oblast) from 1924 until 1940, at which time the Soviet government created the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic on somewhat different territory until 1941. In 1947 the Soviet Union regained control until Moldova declared its independence in August 1991. The Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was established in 1919 and remained a part of the Soviet Union until it declared its independence in August 1991. state farm (sovkhoz in Russian) Under the communist regime, a government-owned and government- managed agricultural enterprise (q.v.) in which workers were paid salaries. steppe The vast, semiarid, grass-covered plain in the southeastern portion of Europe, extending into Asia. Supreme Soviet (Verkhovnyy sovet in Russian) Under the communist regime, the lower tier of the legislature. Elected by the Congress of People's Deputies (q.v.). The Moldovan Supreme Soviet changed its name to the Moldovan Parliament in May 1991 and declared the country sovereign one month later. The name of the Belarusian Supreme Soviet remained unchanged after Belarus declared its independence. Transnistria (Transdnestria in English) From 1941 to 1944, a Romanian judet (province) encompassing the land between the Nistru and Pivdennyy Buh rivers in the German-occupied Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Currently, the region between the Nistru River and Moldova's eastern border. In September 1990, Slavs in Transnistria proclaimed it the "Dnestr Moldavian Republic" (q.v.). Uniate Church An Eastern Christian Church that preserves the Eastern rite and discipline but submits to papal authority. The Uniate Church was established in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (which included Ukraine and Belarus) in 1596 at the Union of Brest. Walachia Former principality; a region in modern southern Romania. Warsaw Pact Informal name for Warsaw Treaty Organization, a mutual defense organization founded in 1955, including the Soviet Union, Albania (which withdrew in 1961), Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Hungary, Poland, and Romania. The Warsaw Pact enabled the Soviet Union to station troops in the countries to its west to oppose the forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The pact was the basis of the invasions of Hungary (1956) and of Czechoslovakia (1968); it was disbanded in July 1991. World Bank Informal name used to designate a group of four affiliated international institutions--the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). The IBRD provides loans to developing countries for productive projects. The IDA furnishes credits to the poorest developing countries on much easier terms than those of conventional IBRD loans. The IFC supplements the activities of the IBRD through loans and assistance designed to encourage the growth of productive private enterprises in the less developed countries. The MIGA insures private foreign investment in developing countries against such noncommercial risks as expropriation, civil strife, and inconvertibility of currency. To participate in the World Bank group, member states must first belong to the International Monetary Fund (IMF--q.v.).

Buy all the books from our site on CD or DVD
B&R Samizdat Express publishes books you read on your computer, collected and organized in useful and suggestive ways on CD and DVD. They offer classics and out-of-print gems, organized by author, genre, time period, theme/subject, and geographic region. Books in text form are searchable, printable, and editable. You can buy an entire library for the price of a single printed book.

eBooks is part of the Bored.com network. © All Rights Reserved.      Contact Us here.