During his recent visit to Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin gifted Moldovan President Igor Dodon a map of the 18th century Moldavian Principality. Dodon reported this during the following press conference.

Dodon called the Russian president’s present “interesting” and noted that Moldova has wider borders on the map than it does currently. The map, drawn by the Italian cartographer Bartolomeo Borghi after the Russo-Turkish Wars, shows Moldova encompassing territories of present-day Romania and Ukraine, specifically the Odessa and Vinnitsa regions of Ukraine.

“Many Romanian journalists ask me why we say that Romania is bad. Russia also came out badly. In 1812, the signing of the Bucharest peace treaty was hastened and the border was put at Prut. They could have left the borders of historical Moldova, then our country would have been whole,” Dodon commented on Putin’s gift.

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