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by Jonathan Rickert

A Troubled History

Relations between Romania and its large Eastern neighbor–Tsarist Russia, then the USSR, and now the Russian Federation–have been fraught with tension, mistrust, and even enmity. Three examples from the 20th century are illustrative. First, during World War One Romania sent its national “treasure,” consisting of nearly 100 tons of gold plus many other valuables, to Tsarist Russia for safekeeping. When the communist regime came to power there, it effectively confiscated the “treasure,” though some items other than the bullion and gold coins have been returned over the ensuing years. Second, in 1940, the Soviet Union annexed Bessarabia (contemporary Moldova) and Northern Bukovina (now part of Ukraine) from Romania. The desire to recover those territories was one factor leading Romania to join Nazi Germany in its war against the Soviet Union. Third, that losing effort resulted in Romania having an unpopular communist regime forced upon it, having to pay heavy reparations to the USSR, and “hosting” unwelcome Soviet troops until 1958. The oppressive Ceausescu regime was, indirectly, a result of Soviet influence in post-World War Two Romania.

The Warsaw Pact and the USSR both dissolved in 1991, much to the relief of most Romanians. Though still mistrusted and feared to some extent, Russia by then was no longer the major factor it had been in Romanian life. At the same time, the Romanian government became nearly obsessed with gaining membership in NATO as the best way, along with membership in the European Union, to link the country permanently with the West and to put the Russian genie back into the bottle. Romania was to become a full-fledged NATO member in 2004.

We at the American embassy watched with care to see how Romanian-Russian relations would evolve in the post-Soviet environment of the early 1990s. The Russian embassy, reflecting political uncertainties back in Moscow, was itself somewhat at sea. Those uncertainties extended even to the ceremonial aspects of the embassy’s activities.

An Awkward Ceremony

For example, on February 23, 1992, local ambassadors, chargés d’affaires, and Romanian military representatives (but apparently no Romanian civilian officials) were invited to gather at the Herestrau cemetery for Soviet soldiers on the outskirts of Bucharest for a ceremony of remembrance. According to the invitation, the occasion was intended, apparently without any irony, to “remember all Soviet soldiers who gave their lives for freedom and independence during the Second World War.” The ceremony was followed by a reception at the Russian embassy, both of which I attended in my capacity as chargé d’affaires at the American embassy.

In fact, there was precious little ceremony to the ceremony. Russian embassy officials and their families, as well as the invited guests, arrived at the appointed hour and milled around quietly before being formed into two ragged lines facing each other across the gravel path leading to the huge Soviet war memorial statue. The sculpture itself appeared much too large for the cemetery of perhaps 500 graves. It once had stood proudly in the middle of Bucharest’s Victory Square. Later, under Ceausescu, it had for some years occupied an attractive but far less prominent spot near the Soviet Embassy. However, after having been smeared with anti-Soviet graffiti and subjected to public threats to tear it down, the statue was moved in the fall of 1991 to its ultimate, inconspicuous location.

Photo by Vladimir Ionas

Eventually, the Russian ambassador placed a large wreath and stood silently before the statue, as two Russian military buglers played a mournful, taps-like tune. Then about a half dozen or so Russian embassy staff members laid a small basket of tired-looking flowers and a few daffodils at the base of the statue. Not a word was spoken by anyone, and in less than five minutes the whole “ceremony” was over. The Russian ambassador and military attaché shook hands with the foreign guests, and everyone departed.

A Downbeat Reception

At the reception at the spacious Russian embassy (which still sported a large bust of Lenin in the entrance hall), Russian deputy chief of mission Viulen Pozdneakov provided some background on the occasion. According to Pozdneakov, who at that point had spent over 19 years in all in Romania, no one in Moscow knew if or when there would be a Russian national day in 1992. Therefore, his embassy had decided to observe the former Red Army Day more or less in lieu of a national day celebration.

The Russian DCM then recounted some of the difficulties his embassy had encountered in organizing the event. First, there was the question of the plaque, with inscriptions in Russian and Romanian, at the base of the statue. The embassy wanted the wording to honor those Soviet soldiers who had given their lives in “the war against fascism.” That formulation, however, was unacceptable to the Romanians. As a result, the plaque instead only mentioned those Soviet soldiers who had died in Romania during the Second World War. Then there was the problem of the grave markers. In checking out the cemetery the day before the ceremony, Russian embassy personnel had discovered that many of the gravestones had been knocked over. Consequently, embassy staff members had worked through the night to upright the stones and restore the cemetery as much as possible to its former appearance. The Herestrau cemetery is located in a working-class neighborhood and, according to the British ambassador, patrons at the local bars sometimes kicked over a few gravestones on their way home after an evening of drinking.

Pozdneakov said that the problems that the Russians were facing at the Herestrau cemetery were emblematic of those they encountered elsewhere in Romania (there are over 200 cemeteries and memorials to Soviet war dead within the country). For example, the Soviet war memorials that once had occupied prominent locations in most larger Romanian cities and towns had now largely been removed to inconspicuous sites in military cemeteries and elsewhere. One of the last to go had been that in Oradea. The Russian embassy recently had received what it regarded as a peremptory message from the city authorities, requesting agreement within 24 hours for the memorial’s removal. There was no point in objecting, Pozdneakov observed sadly, since the statue would be taken down regardless of whatever the embassy said. Moreover, vandalism in the widely scattered Soviet military cemeteries throughout the country was a growing problem, he claimed.

The Last Hurrah

While the simple observances at the Herestrau cemetery were dignified and respectful, a palpable air of sadness hung over the ceremony and reception that followed. Indeed, it was reminiscent of a wake. One could not help but be struck by the feeling that the Soviet Union, whose presence and influence had virtually been defining realities for Romania since the Second World War, was fast becoming a fading memory. Neither Russia nor any political formation that might appear on the territory of the former USSR seemed likely to take the place of the Soviet Union in Romania, or in the minds of the Romanian people. Indeed, the subdued February 23 “ceremony of remembrance” could be viewed as a symbolic “last hurrah” in Romania for the Soviet Union, and by extension Russia.End.

Jonathan B. Rickert


Retired Senior Foreign Service officer Jonathan B. Rickert spent over 35 years of his career in London, Moscow, Vienna, Port of Spain, Sofia, and Bucharest (twice), as well as in Washington.  His last two overseas assignments were as deputy chief of mission in Bulgaria and Romania.  Mr. Rickert holds a B.A. degree in history from Princeton University and an M.A. in international relations from the George Washington University.

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