Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09CHISINAU576
2009-07-24 15:16:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Chisinau
Cable title:  

DEPUTY PM ROSCA PROMISES RETRACTION ON

Tags:  PREL PGOV PHUM KDEM PINR MD 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO5881
RR RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR
DE RUEHCH #0576/01 2051516
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 241516Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY CHISINAU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8194
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHLMC/MCC WASHINGTON DC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CHISINAU 000576 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/UMB, DRL/AE, G/TIP

E.O. 12958: Declassify 07/23/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KDEM PINR MD
SUBJECT: DEPUTY PM ROSCA PROMISES RETRACTION ON
NDI & IRI LIBEL, AND DELIVERS

CHISINAU 00000576 001.2 OF 002


Classified by Ambassador Asif J. Chaudhry under
1.4 (b) and (d).

REFs: A) CHISINAU 566 B) CHISINAU 525

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CHISINAU 000576

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/UMB, DRL/AE, G/TIP

E.O. 12958: Declassify 07/23/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KDEM PINR MD
SUBJECT: DEPUTY PM ROSCA PROMISES RETRACTION ON
NDI & IRI LIBEL, AND DELIVERS

CHISINAU 00000576 001.2 OF 002


Classified by Ambassador Asif J. Chaudhry under
1.4 (b) and (d).

REFs: A) CHISINAU 566 B) CHISINAU 525


1. (C) Summary: In a July 23 meeting with
Ambassador Chaudhry, Deputy Prime Minister Iurie
Rosca expressed shock at a defamatory anti-IRI and
NDI article that appeared in his party's
newspaper, and promised a retraction. The
retraction appeared the next day, on the front
page. Rosca also described attempts by his
enemies in the Government of Moldova (GOM) to
sideline him, and added to his earlier criticisms
of Democrat Party (PD) leader and former Speaker
of Parliament Marian Lupu. End summary.

Rosca's Newspaper Slanders IRI and NDI
--------------


2. (C) On July 17, the Christian Democratic Party
newspaper Flux published a letter supposedly
submitted by a young man who claimed to have been
trained by the International Republican Institute
(IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI)
to foment revolution and organize riots. The
article gave the first names of the trainers,
clearly identifiable as NDI and IRI officials (of
American, Moldovan and Serbian nationality),and
accused them of working on behalf of liberal
parties and foreign powers. The article elicited
no questions from the press or public to the
Embassy, and appeared to have faded away, until
Prosecutor General Valeriu Gurbulea, in a July 22
press conference broadcast on Moldova 1, stated
that the GOM had proof that the April 7 protesters
were "trained by trainers from abroad provided by
extremist organizations from other countries."

A Long Whistle, and Apparent Surprise
--------------


3. (C) Shown the July 13 article in his July 23
meeting with the Ambassador, Rosca gave a long
whistle, agreed that the naming of names was a
serious error, and characterized the article
itself as a "KGB-style falsification" which
managed to slip past junior staff while Flux chief
editor Sergiu Praporscic was in the hospital.
Using language that appeared in the July 24
retraction, Rosca said that someone at the paper
must have been drunk. He also stated that the

article was part of a game against him, and an
attempt "by our Russian brothers" and "their local
branch" to destroy his relationship with the
Ambassador, and to increase diplomatic tensions
between Romania and Moldova. Rosca also expressed
his anger about the article in light of U.S.
assistance to Moldova, noting in particular the
large number of Army and Border Guard officers who
had received U.S. training. Rosca then reached
for his cell phone, called an editor, and arranged
for a retraction in the next day's edition.

As promised, the Retraction Appears
--------------


4. (SBU) The next morning, on the front page of
the July 24 edition of Flux, the headline appeared
over Rosca's photograph: "A Classic Model of
Disinformation and Intoxication." In the
article, Rosca regretted that, in the absence of
Director Praporscic, his young colleagues had
committed the error of publishing an article "by
an invented person," which falsely implicated
Americans, Ukrainians and other foreign nationals
in the events of April 7, and harmed relations
between Moldova and Romania. Calling for better
journalistic investigations and a complete inquiry
into the April 7 events by national law and
justice officials and international experts, Rosca
criticized the article for introducing error into
the process. He concluded by expressing regret
for the appearance of the material, "which is an
element of psychological warfare."

Further Comments on Sidelining
--------------


CHISINAU 00000576 002.2 OF 002



5. (C) Rosca complained that he had been denied a
meeting at the Ministry of Interior because of
"renovations," and that he had been bumped from
the speakers' list of a GOM seminar on the
Constitution--a seminar he had proposed several
weeks earlier. Agreeing that he will always be
seen as an outsider, he repeated his determination
to effect change from inside.

And More on Lupu and Other Colleagues
--------------


6. (C) Rosca expressed his hope that Foreign
Minister Andrei Stratan, whom he described as a
friend, would not continue in the job, and said
that he was trying to help Natalia Gherman,
daughter of Moldova's first President Mircea
Snegur, to get the job. Rosca noted that he had
talked on July 23 with Liberal Democrat Party
leader Vlad Filat about the campaign. Filat, he
noted, was "playing smart and keeping all his
options open," in contrast to Our Moldova Alliance
leader Serafim Urechean and Liberal Party leader
Mihai Ghimpu, both of whom he described as
impossible to talk with. Rosca, as in previous
meetings, maintained his animus against Democrat
Party leader, former Speaker of Parliament and
Party of Communists defector Marian Lupu. Lupu,
he said, was ambitious, obsessed with power, and
corrupt: four years ago, taking a position that
had been promised to Rosca (then Deputy Speaker),
Lupu had chaired a UNDP project for parliamentary
reform--and took USD 800,000 to be used for
various activities of the Parliament while the
money is gone and there is nothing to show for it.

Post-Election Ambitions
--------------


7. (C) Perhaps indicating some confidence that he
might remain in office after July 29 elections,
Rosca stated his desire to reform corrupt
practices in commercial licensing "as a matter of
economic freedom," in education, and in the
Prosecutor's office. Rosca said that "we could
arrest 15 a day, with proof, for corruption" at
high schools and universities, but stated that the
"mafia" at the Ministry of Justice stood in the
way. He described his anger at a ruling two weeks
earlier that reduced the number of companies
licensed to import fish from 60 to 13 (10 of them
newly incorporated),and then, three days earlier,
to only four. He expressed interest in the
Ambassador's description of Embassy-supported
reforms to the export licensing chamber in 2008 (a
one-window, computerized real-time registration
system),and repeated earlier requests for
possible assistance with a new building for the
Supreme Court of Justice.

Comment:
--------------


8. (C) Rosca continues to surprise. He is the
only GOM minister with a sense of humor and an
ability to laugh at himself. He also has the rare
ability to apologize for actions taken in his
party's name, promise a retraction, and deliver
the goods. He continues to promise that the
Government will register IRI and NDI (both of
which continue to operate freely) after the July
29 elections. Delivering on his promise to
retract the offensive article raises our
confidence in his word. We will be watching
closely to see whether he can deliver on the
promised registration.


CHAUDHRY