ABSTRACT
The troubled shared history of Romanian-Russian relations can be traced back to the beginnings of the eighteenth century, which saw the Russian Empire challenging Ottoman rule over the Romanian principalities of Moldova and Walachia. The first annexation of Romanian territory took place in 1812, in the aftermath of the Russo-Turkish War, when the eastern part of Moldova (Bessarabia) was ceded to Russia. Bessarabia was returned almost one century later, in 1918, to the then Kingdom of Romania, to be lost again at the end of the Second World War to the Soviet Union, together with other Romanian regions. Bessarabia was amalgamated with Transnistria into the Soviet Republic of Moldova, while northern Bukovina and the Herza county were merged with another Soviet satellite, Ukraine. Not only did Romanians have to cope with the permanent loss of territory, but they were also powerless bystanders to the tragedy of their kin in those lands, as well as to military, political and economic Soviet domination at home. It was only in the 1960s, after the withdrawal of Soviet troops, when Romania began its journey to greater autonomy from Moscow, though to the benefit of the ruthless dictatorship of Nicolae Ceau^escu. This heavily charged background naturally fuelled downbeat perceptions about Russia that persist and are reinforced to the present day.
