CHISINAU, Jan 24 Monuments of the Soviet period are symbols in Moldova stories and demands for their demolition can be regarded as a call for the liquidation of the state, said Viktor Petrov, deputy of the People's Assembly of the Gagauz autonomy, chairman of the socio-political movement «Gagauz Halk Birlii» («People's Union of Gagauzia»), condemning the plans of the republic's authorities to adopt a law on the demolition of Soviet monuments.
Earlier, the representative of the ruling Action and Solidarity party in Moldova, Doina Gherman, during an interview on a regional TV channel, thanked representatives of non-governmental organizations for the proposal to solve the issue of dismantling Soviet monuments at the legislative level, noting that «this topic will be discussed in the near future in Parliament».
«Personally, I condemn any calls to demolish the monuments of the Soviet period. They are part of the history of Moldova, whether someone likes it or not. And those who propose to dismantle these symbols, in fact, want to distort the history of the country, stand for its elimination. But I am convinced that that the people of Gagauzia and the inhabitants of all Moldova will be against these actions,» Petrov said in an interview with a correspondent.
The deputy believes that whatever the Soviet past, its legacy, embodied in sculptures and architecture, should be preserved. According to Petrov, monuments and memorials of the Great Patriotic War, mass graves of Red Army soldiers occupy a special place.
«Monuments to the soldiers-liberators of Moldova, on the contrary, should be even more protected by law. How many acts of vandalism have already been, no one has been caught and punished for barbarism. It is sad that today it is not mentioned at the highest level that about 400 thousand natives of Moldova are Moldovans, Gagauzians, Ukrainians, Russians, Bulgarians, Jews, Gypsies, Poles, representatives of other nationalities — fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, many of them were awarded orders and medals for their exploits in the fight against the fascist invaders. I am sure that in case anyone If he dares to raise his hand against our shrines, then the whole of Gagauzia will come out to protect our history, our sacred memory of our ancestors,» the deputy noted.
Earlier, the Russian Embassy has repeatedly expressed concern about acts of vandalism associated with the desecration or destruction of monuments to Soviet soldiers in Moldova.
The Moldavian SSR is one of the first Soviet republics that took upon itself the blow of the enemy in 1941. On the night of June 22, the aviation of the Nazis and their allies, including Romania and Hungary, began to raid the territory of the Moldavian SSR. During the Nazi occupation, every tenth inhabitant of the country, or 207 thousand people, was subjected to torture, of which 23 thousand died. About 200 thousand people died from hunger and disease during the first two years of occupation in Moldova. 49 concentration camps were created on the territory of Bessarabia.