The territories of Bessarabia annexed to Russia in 1812 were divided at the end of the First World War: the greater part went to Romania, the rest (corresponding more or less to the current Transdniestria) was initially part of an autonomous Republic within the Ukraine (1924-40). Reunited after the annexation of a large part of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, ceded in 1940 by Romania, they became a member state of the USSR (Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova). From 1941 to 1944, Moldova, occupied by Romanian and German forces, was again part of Romania and returned to the USSR as a Republic in August 1944. However, autonomic ferments continued to spread inside the country, becoming stronger and more evident in starting from the 1980s. After a first formal proclamation of sovereignty made in April 1990, when the Republic had abandoned the attributes of “socialist and Soviet” by changing its name to Moldova, following the collapse of the USSR, Moldova definitively proclaimed its independence, immediately recognized by Romania and immediately afterwards also by many other countries, Russia including. With the definitive dissolution of the USSR, Moldova also joined the Community of Independent States born in Alma Ata on 21 December 1991.

According to globalsciencellc, the claims of the Russian-speaking and Turkish-speaking minorities immediately gave rise to clashes and attempts at secession, which resulted in a short but bloody war in 1992 civilian, in which a Russian army regiment stationed in Transdniestria participated, preventing the Chisinău authorities from re-establishing their control over the region. The autonomist thrusts were largely implemented by the new Constitution, which provided for the establishment of regions with a special statute; but if this resolved the crisis with the Gagauzis, it did not bring Transdniestria back into a unitary state. As for many of the former Soviet realities that in the last decade of the century. XX were trying to write a new page in their history, Moldova too had, therefore, to deal with that intertwining of micro-nationalisms generated by the process of Russification of the Union and also fueled by the policy of Moscow, aimed at protecting the Russian-speaking minorities in the new independent states and, at the same time, to maintain influence there through a military presence (again in 2005, despite repeated invitations from Chisinău and the European institutions, the Russian contingent in Transnistria was not withdrawn). The first Moldovan multi-party elections, held in March 1994, gave an absolute majority to the Democratic Agrarian Party (PDA) of the President of the Republic, the pro-Russian Mircea Snegur. In 1995, a referendum was held in Transdniestria, with which the population spoke out by a very large majority against the withdrawal of Russian troops, which was instead foreseen by an agreement between Moldova and Russia. The persistence of the separatist danger strongly conditioned Moldovan political life: President Mircea Snegur clamorously broke with his party, accused of being too obsequious towards Moscow and subsequently collapsed, but in the presidential elections of December 1996 he was defeated by Petru Lučinskij. These, initially supported by the former Communists and all the opposition, he therefore committed himself to continue along the path of liberal economic reforms, for the rehabilitation of the country’s production system; the victory of the Communists (PCRM) in the parliamentary elections of March 1998, however, determined a growing instability of government, highlighting the popular rejection of the president’s politics. The PCRM continued, in fact, to claim state centralism and the restoration of a socialist state. In July 2000, as a point of mediation for the balance of power between the executive and the Parliament, an amendment was made to the Constitution which decreed that the President of the Republic was elected by Parliament and no longer by direct suffrage.

The difficulties encountered by Parliament in December of the same year, the quorum necessary for the appointment of the new head of state, led Lučinskij to set early legislative elections for February 2001, in which the PCRM won 71 parliamentary seats out of 101, recording the country’s undisputed adherence to a pro-Russian line and the success of the groups who demanded a rapprochement with Moscow. In April 2001, by a large majority, the deputies finally elected the new president of the republic, the communist Vladimir Voronin, and immediately afterwards appointed another deputy of the PCRM, Vasile Tarlev, as prime minister. In 2002 Moldova refused aid from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which were subordinated to the maintenance of a policy of privatization and cuts in social spending; on the other hand, the greater presence of the state in the economy, the fight against rampant corruption, a more rigid fiscal policy and above all good political relations and greater economic and commercial integration with Ukraine and Russia, have allowed a certain development of production industry and agriculture. However, the slight improvement in the economy was not enough to solve the dramatic problems encountered by most of the population; thus between 2002 and 2005 relations with Romania became tense, accused by the government of Chisinău of fomenting the opposition and organizing protests. Georgia abruptly cooled relations with Moscow seeking new ties with the EU instead. In the popular vote, the Communists therefore asserted themselves again, despite a marked decline, beating the center-right Moldova Democratic coalition; and a few weeks later the new parliament reconfirmed Voronin as president of the Republic. The legislative elections won by the Communist Party of Moldova took place in April 2009, while the president resigned and Mihai Ghimpu was appointed ad interim. After a period of political uncertainty and without a majority to elect a new president, the legislative elections in November 2010 did not resolve the country’s political impasse. The Communist Party obtained 42 seats, but the pro-European coalition won 59, without however having the majority to elect the head of state. After three years of negotiations and several parliamentary votes, in March 2012 the parliament elected the liberal and pro-European Nicolae Timofti as president. In 2014 the country signed the association treaty with the European Union.