The first, most violent tremor occurred as I was about to enter my hotel. Looking at the metal vase smashed into two, the receptionist lamented: ".lust as I thought: people always get punished if they don't live in peace." Another violent shock came late that night. But the next day the earthquake wasn't the only topic in Kishinev.

The situation there had sharply deteriorated a week before the quake. On May 22 several Moldavians attacked Russian-speaking deputies, members of the Soviet Moldavia group, on their way out of the parliament building after a session. All of them had walked out in protest. Referring to this incident, the government of Moldavia resigned to the surprise of many people.My job was to file a report on the Chairman of Moldavia's Supreme Soviet, Mircha Snegur. At 8 a.m. when I walked into his office, Snegur had already had two meetings. At 10 he left to chair a session that would discuss the structure of the new cabinet and diplomatic recognition for independent Lithuania.

MN: What's your view of the situation in Moldavia since May 22?

Snegur: I wouldn't call it an impasse, though it might look like one. The confrontation began last summer when it became clear that the Russian-speaking officials would be obliged to learn at least one thousand words in Moldavian to be able to communicate with all citizens of the Republic. What's so bad about that, you might say. I think that the confrontation by some of the Russian-speaking population is being provoked by certain destructive forces.

MN: But the Russian-speaking deputies at the session walked out after being attacked by extremists.

Snegur: I can't deny that. Extremism can't do any good. But the "brutal beating" of the deputies is an overstatement used by forces which want to destabilize the situation. In fact, the original version of the Soviet Moldavia group called for creating self-defence units at enterprises. I asked them if this would serve consolidation. They edited out that point but it remained in the transcript.

MN: What are you doing to get the Soviet Moldavia group back into parliament?

Snegur: The Supreme Soviet has obliged the law and order bodies to protect the deputies' rights and stop all unlawful actions. There have been virtually no picketers since. Incidentally, half the Soviet Moldavia group is back at the session. Still boycotting it are deputies from Tiraspol and Bendery. They are insisting on draconian measures.

I talked with a Soviet Moldavia deputy. Vladimir Kapandzhi is one of the leaders of the Gagauzes national movement. He thinks what happened on May 22 is inadmissible. But staying away from parliament is unreasonable. He says Gagauz deputies are planning to leave the Soviet Moldavia group and form an independent group (Budzhak).Kishinev journalists just back from Tiraspol said: "It was like a trip to another country." The local Soviets (governments) do not recognize decisions taken by the Moldavian parliament. The Russian-speaking majority in the Dniester area is outspoken about its hopes of help from Soviet army units stationed near Tiraspol. This cans he written off as rumour if not for this fact; a military helicopter buzzed one village in the Dniester area while Moldavian residents were holding a rally. "Where did the chopper come from, who gave orders to fly it and what for, I can't tell,'' Procurator of Bendery V. Melnik told the Moldavian news agency ATEM. Back in Moscow I heard that members of all local governments had gathered in Tiraspol over the weekend to discuss the Dniester autonomy. One of the leaders of Moldavia's parliament said that it would have to make any-such decisions null and void. The confrontation continues.

MN: The May 22 events triggered a government crisis in Moldavia. Pyotr Paskar's cabinet resigned over the deterioration of the socio-political situation in Moldavia.

Snegur: I'm not sure if his move was right. Two days later the Supreme Soviet made Mircha Druc, who is not in the CPSU, Prime Minister. He presented his plan of establishing a market economy and economic sovereignty for Moldavia within a confederation.

Not all the deputies agreed with the new premier's concept, and asked many-questions.

"Why is there no state committee for physical education in your plan? Who is going to take care of teaching sports at school?"

"The sports teacher and the school master. Why create a ministry each time?"

"Mr. Druc, how many ministerial seats are you going to give women?"

"May I repeat: a minister's sex or nationality is irrelevant. Professional qualifications aren't."

"You speak about a new federation. What do you mean?"

"For me, a new federation means a confederation." (Applause)

The new premier is an economist and a psychologist. He often says lie was Gavriil Popov's student. He lives in a small hotel room from which they tried to evict him several days ago in anticipation of Moldavia's Communist Party Congress. ("Vacate the room! Our delegates don't have anywhere to stay")

MN: A confederation? You are a member of the USSR President's Federation Council. How do you expect Moscow to react to your innovations?

Snegur: We think that the interests of the Republics should come first. The USSR should take account of their opinions. The Centre still doesn't seem to understand this.

MN: What do you think about the view that the Republic's leader should suspend his party membership?

Snegur: I like this view. My own opinion is that we should consider it. Let's say I'm a CPSU member, and my deputy is the Popular Front leader (he would resign as the leader but remain a member of the movement's Great Council). Why do we have to be in all these structures? Everything in due time... As for Snegur, the rub is that his name is associated every time with the position of a Central Committee secretary, a Burro member, since he attended Party meetings and conferences. I think it was easier for Travkin to leave the Party and create a new one. Things are not that simple for a republican leader.

Just a few hours later the plenum of the Central Committee of Moldavia's Communist Party proposed that Mircha Snegur become a member of the Burro. Snegur declined the offer.

Alexander Makhov

“Moscow News”, n. 23, 1990