ISW: Russia accuses Maia Sandu’s government of “Nazi genocide against the Moldovan language” in order to justify an aggression in Moldova

Vladimir Putin used his Victory Day speech to reaffirm that the West is trying to erase the Soviet Union’s contributions to the defeat of Nazi Germany during the Great Patriotic War (World War II), a grievance that lies at the heart of the perception of Russia’s hostility to the West, notes ISW. The Institute for the Study of War also says that the Kremlin’s shift from accusations of persecution of Russian speakers to that of Moldovan speakers indicates that the Kremlin is likely trying to justify future Russian aggression throughout the Republic of Moldova.

Putin said during Thursday’s parade in Moscow, which is being held to commemorate the Soviet Union’s victory and sacrifices during World War II, that “they”, referring to the West, were trying to “distort” the truth about the Second World War and to “demolish” the memory of Soviet heroism and sacrifice.

Putin said perceived Western efforts to rewrite World War II history and alleged support for “Nazism” in Ukraine, another long-standing Kremlin narrative, were part of a broader Western effort to incite inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflicts around the world.

Putin said that while the West would like to forget the lessons of World War II, Russia remembers that the Soviet Union decided “the fate of mankind” during the fighting “from Murmansk to the Caucasus and Crimea.” Similarly, Putin used his 2023 and 2022 Victory Day speeches to reiterate Western war narratives against Russia and absurdly equate the threat of Nazi Germany with that of Ukraine.

Putin’s willingness to repeatedly re-emphasize the West’s imagined efforts to downplay the Soviet Union’s contribution to the defeat of Nazi Germany suggests that he genuinely believes this is a real threat to the contribution and history of the Soviet Union and, by extension, to the state present day Russian.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zaharova has claimed that the Moldovan government is engaged in a Nazi-style “genocide” in Moldova – a notable shift in Kremlin officials’ rhetoric about Moldova, which is likely intended to create the conditions for a Russian approach to ensure control over Moldova and not only over some of its regions.

Zaharova gave a Victory Day interview to the Kremlin’s TASS news agency in which she absurdly claimed that Moldovan President Maia Sandu and her administration were engaging in “eugenics” practices comparable to those of the Nazi Third Reich . Zaharova focused a lot on the policies of the Moldovan government towards the Moldovan language, claiming that the Sandu government is replacing the Moldovan language with the Romanian language and that this constitutes “elements of genocide against an entire people”.

Zaharova argued that the Moldovan language, culture and identity will remain after Sandu leaves office and that the leader of the Moldovan state will leave “a dark stain in the history of Moldova”, suggesting that the Kremlin expects a new administration to come to power in the future not to resemble Sandu’s western-oriented government.

Zaharova did not specifically attack the Sandu government for its policies toward Moldova’s Russian speakers, as other Russian and pro-Kremlin officials in Moldova have done recently, focusing instead on the Moldovan language.

The Kremlin has repeatedly invoked the self-proclaimed need to protect Russia’s “compatriots,” especially Russian-speakers who would be discriminated against, to justify Russian aggression abroad, including in Ukraine and Moldova.

However, Kremlin officials, including Putin, have recently promoted the narrative that Russia is in an existential geopolitical conflict with an alleged modern-day Nazi movement that is prolific in the West. ISW has previously assessed that many people may not identify with the Kremlin’s narratives about “Russian compatriots abroad” and that the Kremlin may have decided that claims of Western “neo-Nazism” might be more effective for a wider audience.

Moldova’s two pro-Russian regions, the autonomous region of Gagauzia and the breakaway republic of Transnistria, are home to large populations of Russian speakers, and the Kremlin’s shift from accusations of persecution of Russian speakers to that of Moldovan speakers indicates that the Kremlin is trying likely to justify a future Russian aggression throughout Moldova.

Leaders of the pro-Kremlin opposition electoral bloc “Victory of Moldova” also participated in the Victory Day parade in Moscow, further indicating that the Kremlin intends to use these actors to destabilize the whole of Moldova and attack democracy and the EU accession process of Moldova.

Publisher: AC

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