From: msirbu@next5.cs.umr.edu (Mihai Sirbu)
Subject: Moldova/Romania News from RFE/RL, 30 dec 1992
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 17:15:05 GMT
Organization: University of Missouri-Rolla, Missouri's Technological University

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RFE/RL Daily Report               No. 249, 30 December 1992

MOLDOVAN-ROMANIAN POLEMIC ESCALATES. Last week's Bucharest
dailies, including Evenimentul Zilei, cited Virgil Magureanu, the
head of the Romanian Information Service (the Securitate's
successor) as informally telling journalists that his Service was
"spearheading" Romania's efforts to reunify with Moldova, and was
using "its specific methods" in this effort.  The Moldovan
government issued an official protest which was carried by the
Moldovan press on 28 December. On 29 December, the Romanian media
carried a retort from the Romanian Information Service which said
that its chief's statement had been quoted "selectively and in a
distorted manner" by the journalists and that it had only been
made "to a small circle and unofficially." It added that the
Moldovan government's reaction "can only poison bilateral
relations." This is the latest in a series of polemical exchanges
triggered by recent Romanian statements pressing for unification,
answered by Moldovan protests.  (Vladimir Socor, RFE/RL, Inc.)

MOLDOVAN POLLS ON HYPOTHETICAL UNIFICATION WITH ROMANIA. Recent
opinion polls in Moldova show between 7% and 10% of the
population describing unification with Romania as "necessary,"
between 10% and 10% calling it "possible after a long transition
period," and around 70% deeming it "undesirable" and firmly
favoring independent Moldovan statehood, Interfax reported on 29
December. It also cited the Vice-Chairman of the Moldovan
Parliament, Victor Puscasu, as refuting Romania's thesis about
the need to "repair the historic injustice of 1940" (the Soviet
annexation of Bessarabia from Romania).  There is no need to
restore the status-quo of 1940 because Moldova existed as an
independent state long before that, Puscasu said.  (Vladimir
Socor, RFE/RL, Inc.)

ROMANIA AGAIN DENIES INVOLVEMENT IN YUGOSLAV FIGHTING.  Following
an earlier statement by the Foreign Ministry, the Romanian
Defense Ministry in turn has now denied allegations that Romanian
officers and other volunteers are involved in the fighting in
former Yugoslavia. The denials were prompted by Croatian
President Franjo Tudjman's recent statement that Romanians were
fighting on the Serbian side.  A Romanian Defense Ministry
statement carried by Radio Bucharest on 29 December emphasized
that "no Romanian soldier is involved in combat action." It added
that "Romania observes the economic sanctions against Yugoslavia
out of conviction." (Vladimir Socor, RFE/RL, Inc.)

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Newsgroups: soc.culture.romanian