Soviet reprisals caused damage of US$28bn to Moldova

“The minimum damage caused by the Soviet exterminations and deportations in Moldova at the east of the Prut is about US$28 billion,” historian Veaceslav Stavila, who is a member of the commission for studying and assessing the totalitarian Communist regime in Moldova, told a news conference on April 20. Veaceslav Stavila said that after examining the archives, memory books and a catalog of the victims of the Communist regime, he established that more than 54,000 Bessarabians were killed on battle fronts. Over 72,000 people were repressed. More than 173,000 persons were exterminated during the famine of 1946-1947. Employing a calculation methodology used in the Baltic States, Veaceslav Stavila determined that the damage caused totals about US$28 billion. “This sum represents six GDPs of Moldova. We can say we are six years behind as this money could be used to build streets all over the country,” the historian said, adding he consulted economists when comparing the sum he determined. The accusations made against the population were different, and false, says the historian. Most of the people were deported because they were kulaks, spies, traitors, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. Even former police officers, industrialists and shop owners were repressed. The Bessarabians were deported by the Soviets to 12 Russian regions, mainly Kurgan, Tiumeni, Irkutsk, Omsk and Altai. According to the historian, the Moscow administration of the Communist Party of the USSR headed by Josef Stalin, the leader of the party’s office in Moldova Fiodor Butov, the leader of the Communist Party of the MSSR Nichita Salogor and the managers of the NKVD brigade No. 25 of the Soviet Union are to blame for the deportations and exterminations. Veaceslav Stavila said this brigade was a real Gestapo (the secret state police of the Nazis – e.n.) as its members persecuted persons, but were then decorated. The historian also said that the money should be recovered from those responsible, implying it is the Russian Federation, which is the lawful successor of the USSR. Veaceslav Stavila stressed that he made the data public without the consent of the commission of which he is a member. Moreover, he said he was threatened not to go to the conference, but he refused to give names.