Timeline Moldova
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An independent Republic east of Romania, once
part
of the Soviet Union. Its capital is Chisinau.
(SFC, 1/28/97, p.A5)(WSJ, 7/25/97, p.A1)
Two-thirds of the 4.3 million people are ethnic Romanians.
(SFC, 11/19/96, p.A14)
6,000BC Bronze age settlements were
found here.
(SFC, 1/28/97, p.A5)
100-1BC A Roman fortified citadel was built about
this time. It may have protected a town occupied by a late-era
Sarmatian king.
(SFC, 1/28/97, p.A5)
c1400-1500 Steven the Great, Stefan Chel Mare, waged
battles against the Turks in the 14th century became a national hero.
He was buried in the village of Kobynya. In 2000 a 600-year-old oak
tree that marked his grave was killed by a cold snap and high winds.
(SFC, 12/9/00, p.D8)
1812 Russia acquired Bessarabia,
the north eastern part of the original principality of Moldavia, in the
aftermath of the Russo-Turkish War (1806-1812).
(Econ, 1/6/07,
p.43)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessarabia)
1903 Apr, Russia instigated a
Jewish pogrom in Kishinev. 49 people died and some 600 were seriously
injured.
(WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A18)
1905 More anti-Jewish pogroms
swept the province of Bessarabia.
(WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A18)
1907 Mar 31, Romanian Army put
down a Moldavian farmers' revolt.
(MC, 3/31/02)
1918 An attempt to establish a
Moldovan Soviet failed and Romanian troops occupied the province.
(WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A18)
1922 A law was passed that halved
the number of Jewish schools.
(WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A18)
1924 The Bolsheviks formed the
Moldovan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR), aka
Transdniestria, as a basis for later taking over a chunk of Romania.
(WSJ, 7/8/97, p.A1,8)(http://tinyurl.com/b7m4b)
1938 A law was passed that
deprived Jewish heads of household of their civil rights.
(WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A18)
1939 Aug 23, German Foreign
Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet Commissar for Foreign
Affairs Vyacheslav M. Molotov signed a Treaty of Non-Aggression, the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact freeing Hitler to invade Poland and Stalin to
invade Finland. Secret protocols, made public years later, were added
that assigned Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Bessarabia to be within the
Soviet sphere of influence. Poland was partitioned along the rivers
Narev, Vistula and San. Germany retained Lithuania enlarged by the
inclusion of Vilnius. Just days after the signing, Germany invaded
Poland, and by the end of September, both powers had claimed sections
of Poland. World War II and Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union were
just around the corner.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A16)(DrEE, 9/28/96, p.3)(DrEE,
10/26/96, p.4)(AP, 8/23/97) (HNPD, 8/22/98)(HN, 8/23/98)
1940 Jun 26, The Soviet Union
delivered an ultimatum to Romania and 2 days later occupied Bessarabia
and North Bukovina.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Bessarabia_by_the_Soviet_Union)
1940 Moldova was formed from the
former Republic of Moldavia and the ceded Romanian territory of
Bessarabia.
(WUD, 1994 p.922)(Econ, 9/30/06, p.60)
1941 Jun 13, Thousands of Jewish
community leaders in Bessarabia (Moldova) were deported to Siberia as
part of the general purge. The Soviet Union, which had occupied the
former Romanian province a year earlier, loaded 22,600 Moldovans on
cargo trains bound for Siberia, where the deportees were used for
forced labor.
(WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A18)(AP, 6/13/06)
1941 Jul 23, German and Romanian
troops reoccupied Moldova as part of Operation Barbarossa.
(WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A18)
1941 Jul, The 16,000 sq. mile area
of the Ukraine named Transnistria was granted by Hitler to the Romanian
dictator Ion Antonescu for Romania’s participation in the war against
the soviet Union. Jews from Bessarabia, Bukovina and Moldova were
transferred here and many thousands were murdered from 1941-1944 by the
Romanian Gendarmeric, the Einsatrzgruppe D, Ukrainian police and
Sonderkommando R.
(WSJ, 7/30/97, p.A15)
1941 Oct 8, The Romanian
government gave the order to deport 11,000 Jews remaining in Kishinev
across the Dniester to Rybnitsa and into Nazi hands.
(WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A18)
1941-1945 Some 148,000 Bessarabian Jews were killed
in Rybnitsa and other ghettos and concentration camps on the East bank
of the Dniester during the Nazi occupation.
(WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A18)
1941-1945 In 2000 Radu Ioanid authored "The Holocaust
In Romania," which described how 250,000 people died under Ion
Antonescu. 25,000 Gypsies were deported to Transnistria (later in the
Ukraine), of whom 1,500 died.
(WSJ, 1/19/00, p.A20)
1944 Jul 20, The death march of
1,200 Jews from Lipcani, Moldavia, began.
(MC, 7/20/02)
1944 The Soviet army re-conquered
Bessarabia. Only then were the two parts of present-day Moldova joined
together to form the Moldavian SSR. At the same time, about one-third
of Bessarabia, including its entire Black Sea coastline, was
incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR. The Transdniester region, having
long been part of the Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union,
remained more Russified and Sovietized than Right-Bank Moldavia.
(http://tinyurl.com/b7m4b)
1944 Aug 6, All 1,200 Jewish death
marchers from Lipcani, Moldavia, died by this date.
(MC, 8/6/02)
1949-1951 In Moldova SSR 2 waves of deportations were
carried out, with some 40,000 Moldovans sent to Siberia and what is now
Kazakhstan.
(AP, 6/13/06)
1991 Aug 27, Moldova (Moldavia)
declared independence from USSR.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldova)
1992 Feb 14, The former Soviet
republics of Ukraine, Moldova and Azerbaijan rejected a proposal for a
unified army, sharply rebuffing Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin.
(AP, 2/14/02)
1992 Russian reactionaries fought
against the Soviet breakup and repulsed Moldova’s bid to hold on to
Transdniestria. A civil war with Moldova left up to 700 people dead.
(WSJ, 7/8/97, p.A1,8)(Econ, 1/29/05, p.52)(SSFC,
2/12/06, p.E2)
1992 Andrei Ivantoc, a member of
the Popular Moldovan Front, was arrested by separatist
authorities of Trans-Dniester. A year later he and the three
others were sentenced on charges of committing terrorist acts against
citizens of Trans-Dniester. The Popular Moldovan Front called for the
reunification of Moldova with neighboring Romania. The group's members
were seen as martyrs by some in Moldova and Romania for their
opposition to the separatists. Ivantoc was released in 2007.
(AP, 6/2/07)
1992-1994 Russia's Alexander Lebed commanded troops
in Moldova’s break-away region of Trans-Dniester, where ethnic conflict
rose between the Moldovan government and Slav separatists. He ended the
bloodshed there.
(SFC, 10/18/96, A18)
1996 Pres. Mircea Snegur and
Parliament Speaker Petru Lucinschi went into 2nd round elections.
Voters seemed to seek a diminished relationship with Russia and closer
ties with Romania.
(SFC, 11/19/96, p.A14)
1996 Dec 2, Petru Lucinschi, a top
Communist official in Soviet days, beat incumbent Mircea Snegur 53% to
47%.
(WSJ, 12/3/96, p.A1)
1997 Jul 25, It was reported that
American led teams rewritten the tax laws, launched a stock market, and
helped break up farm collectives formed under the Stalin era.
(WSJ, 7/25/97, p.A1)
1997 Oct, The US purchased 21
MiG-29 aircraft from Moldova for $40-50 million, in order to keep the
planes out of the hands of Iran. In 2005 Moldova arrested Valeriu
Pasat, former defense minister (1997-1999), on suspicion of pocketing
$10 million during the sale of 21 MiG-29 fighter jets.
(SFC,11/5/97, p.A5)(WSJ, 3/14/05, p.A1)
1997 Former Soviet republics
(Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova) formed Guuam to
seek cooperation outside Russian influence.
(WSJ, 3/4/05, p.A13)
1998 Mar 22, Elections were held
and the Communist party received about 30% of the vote. Political
parties scrambled to form a coalition to keep the Communists out of
power.
(SFC, 3/24/98, p.A14)
1998 Mar, Ion Ciubuc was appointed
prime minister.
(SFC, 2/2/99, p.A10)
1999 Feb 1, Ion Ciubuc announced
his resignation as prime minister. He blamed parliament and the ruling
coalition for not supporting his efforts to implement market reforms.
(SFC, 2/2/99, p.A10)
1999 Nov, The government of Ion
Sturza was dismissed amid accusations of corruption and mismanagement
of the economy.
(SFC, 12/16/99, p.C2)
1999 Dec 15, Russia cut off
natural gas deliveries due to a debt of $600 million.
(SFC, 12/16/99, p.C2)
2001 Feb 25, In Moldova Communists
made strong gains in parliamentary elections. They won 70% of the seats
and would name the next president.
(WSJ, 2/26/01, p.A1)(WSJ, 2/27/01, p.A1)
2001 In Moldova Vladimir Voronin,
a former baker and member of the Communist Party, was elected
president. He stepped down after serving the maximum two terms.
(AP, 5/12/09)
2001 Moldova passed its 1st laws
against sex trafficking.
(SFC, 6/24/04, p.W1)
2003 May 25, In Moldova the
Communist Party consolidated its hold on power in this former Soviet
republic, winning over 47 percent of contested posts for mayor and
other municipal offices. The Communists, who came to power in 2001,
were led by Pres. Vladimir Voronin.
(AP, 5/26/03)
2003 Dec 8, Russian military
documents confirmed that dozens of rockets outfitted with dirty bombs
appeared to be missing from the military airport at Tiraspol, the
capital of Transdniestria.
(SFC, 12/9/03, p.A13)
2003 Dec 27, Russia removed all
Soviet-built anti-aircraft missiles from its vast arms depots in a
Moldova province to prevent them from falling into the hands of
terrorists. The missiles were flown from Transdniestria Province to
Moscow.
(AP, 12/29/03)
2003 Moldova Pres. Voronin
rejected a deal on Transdniestra that would have left Russian troops on
Moldovan soil for at least 15 years while giving the breakaway region
wide autonomy.
(WSJ, 3/4/05, p.A13)
2003 Moldova passed laws against
sex trafficking with minimum prison sentences. An estimated 200-400
thousand Moldovan women and girls had been lured to foreign countries
by sex traffickers since the mid 1990s.
(SFC, 6/24/04, p.W1)
2004 Dec, Moldovan Foreign
Minister Andrei Stratan called 1,500 Russian troops in Transdniestra a
“military occupation.”
(WSJ, 3/4/05, p.A13)
2005 Mar 6, Moldova held national
elections. Nine special stations were opened near the border with
Trans-Dniester so the separatist region's 700,000 residents can vote.
Trans-Dniester authorities have refused to allow any polling stations
on their territory. The governing pro-Western Communists won a
parliamentary majority, but fell short of taking enough seats to
re-elect President Vladimir Voronin.
(AP, 3/6/05)(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 11, Moldova arrested
Valeriu Pasat, former defense minister, on suspicion of pocketing $10
million during the 1997 sale of 21 MiG-29 fighter jets to the US.
(WSJ, 3/14/05, p.A1)
2005 May 12, Austrian authorities
reported the break up a major human trafficking ring led by Romanian,
Moldovan and Ukrainian criminals who smuggled more than 5,000 East
Europeans to the West, many enduring horrific conditions in tiny hiding
spaces in cars, trucks and trailers.
(AP, 5/12/05)
2006 Apr 6, It was reported that
Russian health and sanitary officials had imposed a ban on Georgian and
Moldovan wines effective May 1. Authorities said the wines contained
pesticides and heavy metals. The ban was soon extended to brandy and
sparkling wines.
(AP, 4/6/06)
2006 Jul 6, In Moldova an
explosion ripped apart a small bus in Tiraspol, capital of the
separatist region of Trans-Dniester, killing eight people and injuring
46. The blast was caused by a bomb carried onboard by a passenger.
Transdniestrian politicians blamed Moldovan provocateurs.
(AP, 7/8/06)(Econ, 8/5/06, p.48)
2006 Sep 17, Voters in Moldova's
breakaway Trans-Dniester region overwhelmingly approved a referendum
for the separatist government's bid to eventually join Russia.
(AP, 9/18/06)
2006 Oct 16, In Moldova an appeals
court overturned a guilty verdict against the former defense minister,
clearing him of charges he sold 21 fighter planes too cheaply to the
US. Valeriu Pasat, who was defense minister from 1997 to 1999 and head
of the country's spy services from 1999 to 2002, claimed the case
against him was politically motivated because of his support for a
movement opposed to Communist President Vladimir Voronin.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Nov 28, Russia’s Pres. Putin
said the ban on Moldovan wine and meat products would be lifted, a move
that appeared to be aimed at easing Moscow's entry into the WTO. Putin
also said Russia and Moldova would resume a dialogue aimed at resolving
Moldova's conflict with Trans-Dniester.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2007 Jul 9, An appeals court freed
Moldova's former defense minister, overturning his conviction for
abusing his position in the 1997 sale of 21 fighter planes to the
United States.
(AP, 7/9/07)
2007 Dec 16, Russian authorities
expelled a Moldovan journalist critical of the Kremlin in a move
condemned by media watchdogs.
(AP, 12/16/07)
2008 Apr 11, In Moldova a
Sudanese-owned transport plane laden with fuel crashed shortly after
takeoff from an airport near the capital and burst into flames, killing
all 8 people on board.
(AP, 4/12/08)
2008 Aug 5, The UN said heavy
rains and storms have led to some of the worst floods in 40 years in
parts of Ukraine, Moldova and Romania since July 22, causing great
damage to homes, infrastructure and farmland. In Ukraine, 34 people
have been killed in the west of the country along the Dnestr and Prut
rivers; in Moldova, three people are reported to have drowned in the
capital Chisinau; in Romania five people have been killed.
(AFP, 8/5/08)
2008 Aug 25, Russia's parliament
voted unanimously to urge the president to recognize the independence
of Georgia's two breakaway regions, a move likely to stoke further
tensions between Moscow and the small Caucasus nation's Western allies.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned ex-Soviet Moldova against
repeating Georgia's mistake of trying to use force to seize back
control of Transdniestria, a pro-Moscow breakaway region.
(AP, 8/25/08)(Reuters, 8/25/08)
2009 Jan 18, Moldovan poet Grigore
Vieru (b.1935) died in a car crash. He was admired for his courage in
promoting Romanian, the country's native language, when Moldova was a
Soviet republic. In the 1970s, he wrote "The Little Bee," Moldova's
first Romanian-language school manual for young children.
(AP, 1/19/09)
2009 Apr 5, In Moldova the
Communist Party won re-election under alleged ballot rigging. The
Communists, in power since 2001, won about 50% of the vote in what
international observers said was a fair election. With a population of
4.1 million, Moldova was one of Europe's poorest nations with an
average monthly salary of $350. Last year Moldovans abroad sent home
$1.6 billion, roughly the same amount as the state budget.
(AP, 4/7/09)(Econ, 4/18/09, p.58)
2009 Apr 7, In Moldova
anti-communist protesters stormed the Parliament, hurling computers
through shattered windows and setting fire to furniture in a violent
demonstration against what they said were fraudulent elections. 3
people were left dead and hundreds were detained.
(AP, 4/7/09)(Econ, 8/8/09, p.46)
2009 May 7, The European Union
extended its hand to former Soviet republics, holding a summit to draw
them closer into the EU orbit despite Russia's deep misgivings.
Presidents, premiers and their deputies from 33 nations signed an
agreement meant to extend the EU's political and economic ties. The six
ex-Soviet republics to whom the partnership would apply are Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
(AP, 5/7/09)
2009 May 12, Vladimir Voronin
(68), Moldova's former president, was voted head of parliament by his
Communist Party colleagues. Three opposition parties boycotted the
ballot, claiming the country's April 5 election was rigged.
(AP, 5/12/09)
2009 Jun 3, Moldovan lawmakers
failed for a second time to elect a president, meaning the Parliament
elected in April will be dissolved and a new election will be held this
summer.
(AP, 6/3/09)
2009 Jun 16, The US added six
African countries to a blacklist of countries trafficking in people,
and put US trading partner Malaysia back on the list. Chad, Eritrea,
Niger, Mauritania, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe were added to the list in
the annual report. Removed from the list were Qatar, Oman, Algeria, and
Moldova.
(AFP, 6/16/09)
2009 Jul 29, Moldova held
elections. At least three people were killed and hundreds of others
arrested after protesters, some of whom used the social network Twitter
to organize after cell phone networks went down, stormed parliament and
the president's office. With 98% of the vote counted, the four
opposition parties had 50.9 percent to the Communists' 45.1%.
(AP, 7/29/09)(AP, 7/30/09)
2009 Aug 8, In Moldova the four
pro-Western parties that upset the Communists in recent elections
agreed on a coalition deal to form a new government.
(AP, 8/8/09)
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