VZCZCXRO7722
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHCH #1435 3440940
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 100940Z DEC 07 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY CHISINAU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5988
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS CHISINAU 001435 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/UMB and DRL/AE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PBTS PGOV PHUM PREL MD
SUBJECT: TRANSNISTRIAN CEMETERY HONORS ROMANIAN WAR DEAD 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. 
 
REFS: A) CHISINAU 986, B) CHISINAU 872, C) CHISINAU 868 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  After earlier refusals, Transnistrian (TN) 
authorities allowed an Embassy officer to cross into TN-controlled 
territory to check conflicting claims about the graves of Romanian 
World War II dead in Bender.  A visit to the Dragalina Cemetery 
revealed careful and sensitive restoration, Transnistrian complaints 
about Romanian politicization, and some insights into getting 
official visitors across the line.  End summary. 
 
What a Difference Two Months Make 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) On December 4, Pol-Econ Officer Michael Mates was greeted 
by name and with a smile at the Transnistrian "Migration Service" 
(part of the "Ministry of Interior") checkpoint, the final hurdle to 
entry into Transnistria.  The welcome contrasted sharply with 
earlier denials of Mates and other emboffs (reftels). 
 
The Cemetery:  All Laid to Rest with Respect 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Colonel Gregoriy Vilkov, the head of the "Ministry of 
Interior's" public relations department, explained that the 
"Ministry of Interior" got the job of restoring the cemetery because 
the property fell under his Ministry's aegis.  The Ministry put 
Vilkov in charge of the task because he is an historian by training. 
 He described the site as a former dump, reduced in size from 10 to 
1.5 hectares by 1970's road-building and housing construction. 
Because of neglect, all the headstones, some dating back to 1811, 
were equally derelict.  With a modest but serious pride he showed us 
the large, ground-level black marble plaques honoring the dead, who 
are grouped by nation:  Russians from the 19th century, French and 
British from post-World War I interventions against the Bolsheviks, 
and Russians and Romanians from World War II.  A crew of five 
workers is restoring original headstones, some of which are broken 
into several pieces and lying flat, and sprucing up the rest of the 
cemetery. 
 
The Romanian Graves Respected 
----------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Vilkov showed us the plaque, written in Romanian and 
Russian, and dedicated "to the Romanian officers and soldiers fallen 
and deceased in Bender, 1941-1944, buried in this cemetery."  (Note: 
 The word "decedat" in Romanian was misspelled "desedat" on the 
plaque.  End note.)  Behind the plaque, 33 white-painted Celtic 
crosses, known to have commemorated the Romanian dead, were arrayed. 
 Vilkov explained that the inscriptions had been erased, either by 
time or by Soviet hands.  Before-and-after photographs of the 
Romanian headstones can be seen at the "Ministry of Interior's" 
website on http://www.mvdpmr.org/index.php?option=com_da tsogaller 
y&Itemid=48&func=viewcategory&catid=13 
 
The Romanian Authorities Dismissive 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) The even tenor of Vilkov's remarks was broken when he 
showed us the letter from the Romanian Embassy in Chisinau.  He 
described the letter with a Russian barnyard epithet and then shared 
its contents:  after listing the 337 Romanian dead known to them, 
the Romanian authorities, addressing the Transnistrian authorities 
as "separatist elements," demanded exclusive access to and control 
of the site commemorating their dead, and the right to finance all 
reconstruction.  Vilkov sharply contrasted this letter, whose 
contents closely follow Romanian government and press statements 
about the issue, with the cooperative efforts of the British and 
French embassies in Chisinau, and declared that the dead should be 
honored, and not politicized.  He then extended an invitation to the 
opening of the cemetery (which will include a chapel and a museum, 
now both under construction), which is set for October 8, 2008, the 
600th anniversary of the founding of Bender. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) We learned several lessons from this trip:  that the 
Transnistrian authorities, at least in the case of the Dragalina 
Cemetery, can act with dignity and fairness, especially considering 
what Romanian soldiers, as Hitler's allies, did in the region in 
World War II.  We need to persuade the Government of Romania that 
its image is not helped by acting contumaciously on the issue, and 
that its representative should be on the platform on opening day at 
the cemetery complex next October. 
 
Kirby