On June 28, 1940, Red Army units entered the territory of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, which were occupied by Romania for more than 22 years. In less than two weeks, these lands came under the complete control of the Soviet Union.

Reasons for the conflict

In the 15th century, Romanesque and Slavic Orthodox peoples living in Bessarabia became dependent on the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate. At the beginning of the XVIII century, Peter I at the request of the local population tried to oust the Turks from this region, but his attempts were unsuccessful.

Only as a result of the Russo-Turkish war of 1806-1812 were the Ottomans finally expelled from the Pruto-Dniester interfluve. Under the terms of the Bucharest Peace Treaty, Turkey transferred Bessarabia to the Russian Empire.

According to historians, Bessarabia has blossomed under Russian rule. Quite democratic regulations were in force in the region. Over a hundred years, the population of Bessarabia has grown approximately ten times - up to 2.5 million people. Among Moldovans, the natural population growth was higher than among other Orthodox peoples of the Russian Empire. In addition, immigrants moved both from the depths of the empire and from abroad to previously empty lands on the banks of the Danube. At the same time, peasants in Russian Bessarabia lived significantly richer than their Romanian neighbors.

Against the backdrop of the revolutionary events of 1917, the Moldavian Democratic Republic, which was part of Russia, was created in Bessarabia. But at the beginning of 1918, Romanian troops invaded Moldova. Soon they were defeated by the Soviet units, and Bucharest guaranteed Moscow that it would liberate Bessarabia. However, taking advantage of the Civil War and foreign intervention in Russia, Romania did not fulfill its obligations by force annexing Bessarabia, as well as neighboring Bukovina, formerly part of Austria-Hungary.

Romanian authorities turned Bessarabia, which flourished earlier, into an underdeveloped agricultural land, over 70% of whose population was illiterate. Repressions were launched against people dissatisfied with the new orders. In the first eight years of occupation in Bessarabia, according to historians, about 15 thousand people were executed. About a hundred thousand inhabitants of the region, fleeing the poverty and repression, fled to the USSR.

“The Romanian authorities treated the population of Bessarabia and Bukovina in much the same way as the Western European states treated the inhabitants of their African colonies,” Andrei Koshkin, full member of the Academy of Military Sciences, told RT.

  • King of Romania Carol II in the territories annexed to Soviet Russia
  • Gettyimages.ru
  • © Keystone

According to the specialist-historian of the Victory Museum Alexander Mikhailov, forcible "Romanization" was carried out in the occupied territories. In these regions it was forbidden to speak any language other than Romanian; names and surnames needed to be changed to the Romanian manner. Russians, Ukrainians and Moldavians settled only where they were allowed, falling into bondage to the Romanian landowners.

Moreover, according to the expert, neither Soviet Russia nor the USSR recognized the annexation of Bessarabia, considering these lands illegally seized by Romania.

Liberation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina

“In the 1930s, Romania tried to force the USSR to agree to the recognition of the actual border (approximately along the western border of modern Moldova. - RT ), blackmailing the conclusion of various international treaties. However, this did not lead to any results, and in Bucharest they realized that Moscow was determined to regain Bessarabia with all available means, ”said Koshkin.

March 29, 1940, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Vyacheslav Molotov at a session of the Supreme Council of the USSR said that the Soviet Union did not have a non-aggression pact with Romania: “This is due to the unresolved contentious issue of Bessarabia, which the Soviet Union never recognized, but never posed, by Romania the question of the return of Bessarabia by military means. "

In April, the Soviet authorities sent Romania a memorandum on 15 cases of shelling of Soviet territory from the Romanian side and the problem of mining bridges across the Dniester. In parallel with the Soviet-Finnish front, units of the Red Army began to return to the southern borders of the USSR.

Already in the middle of June 1940, plans for an operation were developed in the USSR for the Red Army to enter Bessarabia, as well as in Northern Bukovina, which was populated mainly by Ukrainians. Options for peaceful and military resolution of the contradictions were considered.

By June 27, 1940, Soviet troops were deployed on the border with Romania.

“The Southern Front’s troops included 32 rifle, 2 motor rifle, 6 cavalry divisions, 11 tank and 3 airborne brigades, 14 corps artillery regiments, 16 artillery regiments of the RGK and 4 artillery divisions of high power. The total number of groups amounted to 460 thousand people, up to 12 thousand guns and mortars, about 3 thousand tanks. The Front Air Force grouped 21 fighter, 12 medium-bomber, 4 long-range bomber, 4 light-bomber, 4 heavy-bomber regiments and by June 24 totaled 2,160 aircraft, ”writes historian Mikhail Meltiukhov.

The directives issued by the troops noted that the Red Army was going to liberate Ukrainians, Russians, and Moldavians from the yoke of “boyar Romania” in order to save them from the threat of ruin and extinction: “By releasing Soviet Bessarabia from the yoke of Romanian capitalists and landowners, we protect and strengthen our southern and southwestern borders. ”

  • Residents of Bessarabia welcome the Red Army
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  • © Fine Art Images / Heritage Images

Also, Soviet documents emphasized that ethnic Romanians in the lands of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina make up only about 9%. At the same time, strict discipline and a benevolent attitude towards the local population were required from the personnel of the Red Army.

On the evening of June 26, 1940, a note from the Soviet government was handed over to the Romanian authorities. It contained a demand to transfer to the USSR control the illegally annexed by Bucharest in 1918 Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. The answer was expected on June 27.

The Romanian authorities first tried to challenge the arguments of the USSR, then they agreed with the demands of Moscow, but they delayed the discussion of technical issues. Molotov thwarted these attempts by raising the question with an edge. A new note was handed to Romania, in which it was required to give a final answer before dinner on June 28 and immediately begin to withdraw the Romanian troops from Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. As a result, the Crown Council of Romania, with 27 votes to 11, decided to agree to the transfer of the required territories to the USSR.

On June 28, 1940, at 2 p.m., the troops of the Southern Front crossed the old border with Romania, immediately occupying Chernivtsi, Khotin, Balti, Chisinau and Akkerman. In order to prevent the situation of anarchy and the facts of looting, airborne landings were planted in the south of Bessarabia.

  • Chisinau parade, July 1940
  • © Wikimedia Commons

July 3, 1940 a new border was occupied by Soviet troops. On July 8, the NKVD border troops began its protection. On August 2, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a law on the formation of the Moldavian SSR and the incorporation of Northern Bukovina and Southern Bessarabia into Soviet Ukraine, on the territory of which Akkerman Oblast was formed, later renamed Izmail.

“The inhabitants of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina greeted the Red Army with flowers and tears of joy in their eyes. For them it was a liberation. About 300 thousand people from the territory of Romania fled to Soviet Bessarabia. Even official Bucharest acknowledged that the population of Bessarabia fully supports joining the USSR, ”said Andrei Koshkin.

According to Alexander Mikhailov, the events of 1940 confirmed that the USSR did not abandon its fellow citizens, which played an important role in inspiring people during the years of World War II.

“The annexation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina was a major historical event. The Soviet authorities not only restored historical justice, but made a wise geopolitical move. Moving the border in the future made it possible to more effectively restrain the advance of the Nazi forces in the south in the summer of 1941, ”concluded Andrey Koshkin.