Maria Zakharova as a symbol of vulgarity and imperial arrogance

The Russians are not the only people suffering from inferiority complexes and a spirit of imitation of the West. For it was only through an obsession with mimicry of the American model that such a mediocre and impudent lady, with no sense of diplomatic elegance or refinement of expression, could become the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Maria Zakharova, Minister Lavrov's favourite, has accustomed the world to her crass appearances, anathematising the Western establishment with patriotic zeal and exercising clumsy sarcasm and didacticism full of imperial appeasement. But the target of the acid criticism of this extremely voluble and quarrelsome madam of questionable intellectual quality is not only the political class in the West, but also people in the state hierarchy of the Republic of Moldova. It is known that officials in Moscow regard our country as a recoverable territory that has temporarily strayed from the masters of the former Soviet empire. Hence their obsession with admonishing non-Kremlin-affiliated politicians at every turn.

I am far from being among the supporters of the current government in Moldova. I detest the fact that it is made up exclusively of mercenaries of the Western-based globalist plutocracy, but I am no more sympathetic to the mercenaries affiliated to the Moscow power, either. And yet, when the distinguished spokeswoman of the Russian MFA allows herself to sneer at the leaders of Moldova, I cannot help but note with outrage that this is interference in the internal affairs of our state.

A few days ago, a video clip was circulating on the Internet, taken by the media in Chisinau, in which Maria Zakharova, speaking at the World Youth Forum in Sochi, once again referred to the state language of our country (https://www.ziarulnational.md/video-limba-moldoveneasca-exista-maria-zaharova-a-izbucnit-in-ras-cand-a-facut-aceasta-afirmatie/). She reiterated the Cominternist aberration about the existence of a Moldovan language in a harsh tone that strangely turned into a loud laugh, which was intended as a sign of the sarcasm. The air of superiority and the lecturing manner of the lady in question were meant to teach us yet another lesson in the height of imperial arrogance over our own ethnic and cultural identity.

I have no doubt that this emblematic figure of the Kremlin knows nothing about the Comintern origin of the linguonym "Moldovan language" and the ethnonym "Moldovan people", which served as justification for the annexation of Bessarabia by the USSR. Nor about the fact that in the Republic of Moldova, since the fall of communism, the following subjects are taught in school: the Romanian language, Romanian literature and Romanian history. This is the most obvious proof of the process of national revival, which put an end to the Russification and assimilation practised in the Soviet and Russian empires.

In fact, a striking and tragic proof of the fact that the Soviet occupation regime was practising denationalisation by imposing falsehoods on the national-linguistic identity in occupied territories is the state of affairs in Transnistria. It is precisely because of the Russian military presence, which abusively maintains its military contingent in this region, that it is possible to perpetuate a separatist regime which is a direct exponent of the occupying power. And foreign domination in this part of our country is directly manifested by the imposition of the 'Moldovan language' in schools. In addition, the pro-Russian separatist regime prohibits the use of the Latin alphabet, maintaining the Russian alphabet by force of arms and terror, as happened throughout the country during the Soviet regime.

In her short speech on the "linguistic issue" Maria Zakharova also compared the discussion about the existence of the Moldovan language with the gender theory, which, we should conclude, is as absurd as the denial of the Soviet name of my country's language. I am glad that this person in a high position in the Russian state rejects the gender theory, but at the same time I regret her ignorance in linguistic matters. We do not believe that such rhetorical pirouettes merely reveal a lack of satisfactory cognitive abilities and elementary diplomatic tact.  Rather, it is what we have noted since the title of this article, that is to say, a measureless imperial arrogance that treats all the peoples of the former empire as barbarians and savages who must be raised to the civilizational standards of the occupier.

Such disrespectful rhetoric affects not only the rulers in Chisinau, but above all the sensitivities of an entire people who have suffered for centuries under foreign domination. It is the imperial tics and the excessively paternalistic spirit, bordering on dictatorship, which are a constant feature of post-Soviet Russia's foreign policy towards the former USSR peripheries that have become independent states that are determining them to switch to the camp of Moscow's geopolitical enemies. In this way, both Russia and every ex-soviet country that finds itself in the clutches of the collective West stand to lose.