Moldovan President Maia Sandu has said the spirit of solidarity her country showed towards Lithuania in 1990 remains as strong as ever, as Lithuania marked the 36th anniversary of its restored independence.
Speaking at a solemn commemoration in the Lithuanian parliament on Wednesday, Sandu recalled that Moldova recognised Lithuanian independence whilst still part of the Soviet Union itself.
"It was our gesture of solidarity, our act of courage, before we ourselves were free. Today, 36 years later, I have come to assure you that the spirit of that gesture is still alive," she said.
She spoke of a shared historical memory between the two former Soviet republics, one she said Moscow had long tried to suppress. "This is a unifying memory that Moscow has always sought to erase, distort, or weaponize," she said, adding: "We remember what an empire does to nations it claims belong to it. The suppression of languages, identities, traditions, deportations, families herded into cattle cars in the middle of the night, names erased from maps and history books."
Moldovan president called the preservation of such memories a form of national defence, and stressed the need for European solidarity with Ukraine in the face of Russia's invasion.
"Europe must be a place where people matter, where sovereignty is respected, and where states defend each other," she said, citing Lithuania as a model for defence spending and collective security.
"By supporting Ukraine, you are supporting Moldova," she added.
Moldova recognised Lithuanian independence on May 31, 1990, whilst itself still a Soviet republic. Lithuania was the first country to secede from the Soviet Union, declaring the restoration of its independence on March 11, 1990.
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