| Abstrakt: |
The article delves into the Russian President Putin's discourse on the Russian military history along the Danube, i.e., on the territories of today's Moldova, Ukraine, and Romania. Taking advantage of a socio-historically oriented discourse analysis, I discern the similarities, anomalies, and omissions of the Russian President's articulation. Putin seldom discloses his views on the subject, instead, these are embedded in his general utterance on Ukraine, CIS or Eurasia. As Moldova in the eyes of Putin constitutes «a special case» with an original inheritance, he implicitly exhorts the Moldovans to preserve their distinctiveness. With his astute allusions, Putin tends to strengthen anti-European sentiments and to hamper Moldova's ever-deepening EU-integration. Paradoxically, the Russian President remains tacit on the Medieval links between Kyiv Rus and the shores of the Danube and the Principalities of Moscow and Moldavia. Likewise, Putin ignores the Russian-Moldavian alliances of the 17th-18th centuries. The reason proves bitter: these episodes merely would question his primary claim - i.e. Moldova's uniqueness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
