Vladimir Nicolaevici Voronin (25 May 1941-) was President of Moldova from 7 April 2001 to 11 September 2009, succeeding Petru Lucinschi and preceding Mihai Ghimpu.
Biography[]
Vladimir Nicolaevici Voronin was born in Corjova, Transnistria, Romania on 25 May 1941 to a Russified family of Moldovans. Voronin was the grandson of the anti-communist resistance fighter Isidor Sarbu, but Voronin himself was a lifelong communist who worked as a baker and bread factory director during the Soviet era. From 1989 to 1990, he served as Interior Minister of the Moldavian SSR, and he thus played a role in the violent suppression of 1989 anti-Soviet riots. Voronin played a major role in reviving the Communist Party of Moldavia after its ban was lifted in 1993, becoming President of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova in 1994. Voronin was elected President by the Parliament after a 2001 snap election which cost the incumbent Petru Lucinschi his presidency, and Voronin supported the expanded use of the Russian language in schools, supported a social safety net to deal with Moldova's poverty, and supported Russian's designation as a second official language. In 2004, he ordered the blockade of the breakaway state of Transnistria after its authorities closed several Romanian-speaking schools. Voronin was re-elected in 2005, and he supported both close ties with Russia and membership in the European Union; conversely, he was staunchly opposed to NATO membership and unification with Romania. In 2009, Voronin was prevented from being re-elected by a single vote in Parliament, and he resigned after a second election failed to produce a new government. Voronin was consistently ranked as one of the most popular politicians in Moldova even after he left the presidency, and he served in Parliament from 2009 to 2019 and again from 2021.