Heroes and traitors. The secret agency of the gendarmi corps in the romanian national movement in Bessarabia

Based on unpublished archival sources, held in the custody of the National Archives of the Republic of Moldova, in this article we have attempted to discuss and analyze the methods of combating the national emancipation movement of the Bessarabian Romanians by the Governmental Directorate of the Independent Gendarmerie Corps of Bessarabia. Among the most effective methods of suppressing the national movement was the infiltration of secret agents into the movement and compromising the idea of the national unity of the Romanians by launching the false theory of the existence of two separate peoples, with distinct national characteristics - Romanians and Moldovans.