The holidays are over: Independence Day and Romanian Language Day – two of the biggest success stories of Moldova, attained in conditions of total insecurity. To put it plainly, August 27 and August 31, are, in fact, the two great success stories of the First Parliament, and I make this remark intentionally, because, in the 30 years of existence, Moldova has had parliaments that did not make any history; moreover, they often made anti-history or just did nothing.

There is no need to go into details, but everything that started with Andrei Sangheli and ended with Igor Dodon was anti-history in continuous flow. Where would we be today if not for persons like Sangheli or Dodon? Years later, having gone through all the betrayals, from both the left and the right, we must admit that there would be no Moldova if not for the First Parliament.

Obviously, we cannot underestimate the constant support of Romania since we declared our Independence. We cannot forget the efforts of the hundreds of thousands of participants in the Great National Assemblies – these elite troops of the Movement of National Liberation which, unofficially, formed at that time the Street Parliament, through which were voted, hand in hand with the First Parliament, several fundamental decisions for Moldova, including the Declaration of Independence and the Declaration on Romanian as a state language. These were the years of glory for Moldova, years in which the First Parliament and the first governments, led by Mircea Druc and Valeriu Muravschi, totally represented the people’s position.

In 1994, however, Moscow brings back to power the former Soviet nomenclature. The Agrarian Democratic Party of Moldova tries to turn the wheel of history, but it does not succeed. Moldova also fails to go further than it succeeded until 1994. We basically stopped in time in 1994. The leftist governments, managed by the Kremlin, have always sought to sabotage and discredit Moldova’s course of development.

After thirty years of independence, we are trapped in the same unresolved problems and the same unfulfilled hopes. It’s a Moldova with independence arrested on the Nistru River, with the same aspiration to reunite with Romania, with the same confused division between the East and the West, with the same brutal interference of Moscow in the internal affairs of Moldova, with the same Russian military presence on the Nistru River and Transnistrian separatism, provoked and maintained by Moscow, with two arbitrary borders, one on the Prut River and another on the Nistru River, built by the same Moscow: one on June 28, 1940 and another on July 21, 1992, with embassies around the world but no international relations, with a Constitution that cannot guarantee us the right to sovereignty and territorial integrity, with the same political fornication in government, when regimes are bought or sold for positions, protection and favor, with two state languages, Moldovan in the Constitution and Romanian in the Declaration of Independence, with the same ostentatious looks at Bucharest, Brussels and Washington … It’s not a general rule, though it is.

There are, however, certain changes, although in the emerging phase. For the first time in 30 years since Independence, Moldova has a right-wing president, a non-communist parliament, and a pro-European government, which promise to remove the arrears of the former politicians and restore the country to its foundations, making a different regional and global policy. Chișinău wants to be a player in politics, not just an observer, with implications not only for what is happening on the Nistru River, but also on the Danube and in the Black Sea, in Donbas, Crimea, the Caucasus, and anywhere in the world. At least, that’s what Maia Sandu says.

On the occasion of Independence Day, a quadrilateral meeting was held in Chișinău (a premiere for Moldova): Moldova-Poland-Romania-Ukraine, at the level of heads of state: Maia Sandu, Andrzej Duda, Klaus Iohannis, and Volodymyr Zelensky. According to the head of state, the four presidents agreed on the development of a regional partnership, which is intended between two E.U. members – Poland and Romania, and two members of the Eastern Partnership – Moldova and Ukraine. It is a kind of political tow to speed up the process of bringing Moldova and Ukraine closer to the E.U. The cooperation aims at activities that would ensure them another chance for development, as well as in areas related to politics, geopolitics, and security, which would strengthen their independence. According to Maia Sandu, “Moldova wants to become a factor of stability for our region … We will promote dialogue and peace, diplomatic solutions, peaceful compromise … We will have a proactive and predictable foreign policy, we will participate constructively and wisely in dialogues at the regional and global levels … we will defend our national values and interests with decency and firmness,” says Sandu. And Zelensky: “in order to develop”, we need to ensure our countries against “risks and dangers”. It is one of the key theses, stated in Chișinău by the Ukrainian president. According to him, one of the major risk factors for both Moldova and Ukraine is the Russian troops on the Nistru River.

Thirty years later, the independence of Moldova and, more recently, of Ukraine, is facing the same old problem for regional peace, stability, and security: the Russian army on the Nistru River.

On the day the four presidents discussed in Chișinău the threats of the Russian military presence in the breakaway Transnistrian region, Vladimir Putin wrote Maia Sandu a letter to congratulate her on the occasion of Independence Day, for which, in 1992, Russia launched a war against Moldova on the Nistru River.

“For centuries, the peoples of our countries have been linked by friendship and mutual respect …” (?). Curiously, what was, however, the 1992 war against Moldova: an act of friendship or mutual respect?