At the request of Romania the “Moldovan language,” a legacy of the Soviet era, has been recognized as non-existent by the Ukrainian government to strengthen the relations between the two countries. But the Ukrainian president recalled not to let Russia a chance to seize language matters to divide.
The prime minister of Romania, Marcel Ciolacu, and the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, met twice in less than ten days. On October 10th, President Zelensky met with Prime Minister Ciolacu in Bucharest.
The representatives of two former Soviet Union countries discussed refugee support, the implementation of a grain corridor for Ukraine’s exports, and defense in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They decided to elevate relations to the strategic partnership level, agreeing that Russia was the main security threat to the European Union and the Black Sea region.
“I had a meeting with the head of the Romanian government, Marcel Ciolacu. We discussed defense support for Ukraine and strengthening bilateral cooperation in the defense sector. Ukraine and Romania are making a critical contribution to global food security. It is important that the agreements on doubling the transit of Ukrainian agricultural products through Romanian territory are implemented,” Volodymyr Zelensky wrote in a post on Telegram.
Romania has been a supporter of Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion, and has housed many Ukrainian refugees, around 80% of whom were women and children. Romania has provided refugees from Ukraine with emergency humanitarian aid and long-term support to further social and economic integration.
But the Romanian Prime Minister also mentioned the importance of recognizing Romanian minority rights in Ukraine regarding their language rights, a legacy from the Soviet era that used to stretch relations between the two countries.
Now, at the request of Romania, “Moldovan” is no longer acknowledged as a language by Ukraine and is now called Romanian.
Romania wants Ukraine to remove the recognition of a Moldovan language
Earlier last week, both parties emphasized the importance of ensuring the rights of the Ukrainian national minority in Romania, as well as the Romanian national minority in Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian presidency.
As of June 2023, Romania hosts over 130,000 refugees from Ukraine, according to UNESCO. Meanwhile, there are over 150,000 ethnic Romanians in Ukraine. “And in addition, there are many Romanians, of Romanian ethnicity, who participate in the war in Ukraine,” claims Marcel Ciolacu.
However, the legislation of Ukraine, a country home to both Romanian and Moldovan minorities, had previously recognized the existence of a “Moldovan language” which caused tensions with Romania since Bucharest does not recognize the language’s existence.
Regarding the discussions with his Ukrainian counterpart, Prime Minister Ciolacu added: “The Moldovan language should no longer exist, because it never existed. It is an invention of the Russian Federation, especially for Bessarabia, for the Romanian citizens on the territory of Bessarabia, so that they no longer call themselves Romanians but Moldovans.”
On X (ex-Twitter), the prime minister wrote his government “is determined to work constructively with our [Ukrainian] partners to meet the legit expectations of the Romanian minority in Ukraine regarding the official recognition of Romanian language and access to education in the mother tongue.”
A legacy of the Soviet Union era
Bessarabia is a historical region covering most of the current Moldova and some areas of Ukraine and Romania.
After the Russian Revolution of 1905, a nationalist movement that developed in Bessarabia declared its independence in 1918 and voted to unite with Romania. The Treaty of Paris in 1920 confirmed this unification, but the Soviet Union never recognized Romania’s right to the province. During World War II, Romanians occupied Bessarabia, but the Soviet Union then seized it in 1944.
Moldova’s ethnic majority shares linguistic, cultural and other ties with many Romanians. But during the occupation of Bessarabia, the Soviets asserted that the Moldovans and Romanians were different and had two different languages, pushing one written in the Cyrillic alphabet instead of the Latin alphabet.
Bessarabia remained divided after Ukraine and Moldavia (now Moldova) declared independence in 1991.
In Ukraine, whose language uses a variant of the Cyrillic script, some schools were still teaching in the so-called Moldovan language, especially in the Chernivtsi and Odesa Oblasts which have a border with Romania and Moldova and used to be part of Bessarabia.
But in 2021, Ukraine said it was open to removing the recognition of the Moldovan language, which Romania expected to happen quickly.
Not a pressing issue for a country at war
In an interview with Romanian broadcast Digi24 during his trip, President Zelensky didn’t see an issue with the change but considered it was not a pressing matter for a country at war. “I lean towards the decision to strengthen our partnership and resolve these issues. I’m sorry I can’t always think about these issues. For a country at war, that’s not a problem,” he said.
He also wanted to warn that language is not an issue for unity and cooperation, referring to the Russian-speaking minorities in his country that Russia used as an excuse for an invasion: “We have seen this so many times, Russia seizes every political question, especially when it comes to language. Russia said that we would have a problem with Russian-speaking people in Donbas. No. Now they killed them, even though they said that was the biggest problem, that people in Ukraine who spoke Russian had problems and were not allowed to speak Russian. All this rhetoric, on religion, language, minorities are topics that if Russia hears them, starts a strong disinformation campaign. […] Don’t give Russia a chance to divide because we are on the same barricade.”
On October 18th, when Ciolacu visited Kyiv to meet with officials from the fields of defense, agriculture, transport, energy, internal affairs, and health, Romania’s official press statement plainly emphasized that the visit “has two clear objectives — the promotion of the rights of Romanians in Ukraine and the signing of important bilateral agreements.”
And on October 19th, the Ukrainian government officially recognized the non-existence of the Moldovan language.
“From now on, there is only one official language at the international level — the Romanian language. I believe that this invention of the Russian Federation has been deleted by this decision of the Ukrainian government,” Ciolacu stated.
In Moldova, the Declaration of Moldovan Independence in 1991 named Romanian the country’s official language, while the 1994 constitution referred to the “Moldovan language.” But Moldova’s President Maia Sandu signed a law in March establishing Romanian as the country’s official language.
The breakaway region of Transnistria, backed by Russia, continues to recognize Moldovan as one of its official languages.
Jennifer Shoemaker contributed reporting
