ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...

Q: Can you give a brief summary of Moldovan history leading up to the time you got
there?
PERINA: There is no such thing as brief history in this part of the world, as I am sure you
know. Moldova’s history is interesting because it has always been a border region
between different empires. Even in ancient times it was right on the border of where the
Roman Empire ended. In modern times it was on the border between the Ottoman and
Russian empires and then between Romania and the Soviet Union. It was always going
back and forth between big neighbors. The ethnic mix reflects this. It is a classic
multiethnic state that is roughly 60% Romanian speaking and 40% Slavic speaking,
primarily Ukrainian and Russian.
Q: I remember reading about Bessarabia, which is how people used to refer to it.
PERINA: Right. That was a name often used up until World War II. It used to have an
even greater ethnic mix. It had a large Jewish population in the nineteenth century. Some
cities were over 50% Jewish. A good part of this population emigrated, often going to the
United States, early in the twentieth century. Many of those that remained were killed by
the fascist regime during World War II. The Jewish population is making a gradual
comeback, and there are now about 50,000 Jews in Moldova in an active, well-organized
community. The country also has a sizeable Bulgarian minority and an ethnic group
called the Gagauz, who are basically Turks who settled there over the centuries and
converted to Christianity. So you see it is a considerable ethnic mix, and it cannot be
geographically divided. It is a leopard skin, as some people there said, of ethnic groups
dispersed throughout the country. Basically, Moldova is one of those multiethnic states
that exists because it has to, because the population cannot be integrated into any
neighboring state without a significant conflict.
The ethnic tensions in fact erupted with the break-up of the Soviet Union. Some of the
Romanian speakers started calling for unification with Romania, which sparked
resistance among the Slavic speakers. A conflict erupted, and in 1990 the region called
Transnistria, a long narrow strip east of the Dniester River which has a slight majority of
Slavic speakers, declared independence from Moldova. The Soviet 14 th Army helped the
Transnistrians in a war that continued until 1992 when a ceasefire was declared. But the
conflict remains unresolved to this day, with the country divided. So Transnistria is a
secessionist region, unrecognized by any country in the world but not under the control of
the Moldovan government. However, Transnistria is being de facto supported by
Moscow because without Russian assistance it could not survive for very long. Russia is
keeping the secession alive.
Q: The other border of Moldova and Transnistria is Ukraine. How does that fit in?
PERINA: Ukraine is very much involved in the mediation effort and is a key country that
can help resolve the conflict because it can clamp down on Transnistria’s borders.
Recently, it has started doing that more seriously. Ukraine is in fact one of the three
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