Russian official: Russia says "Moldavia" instead of "Moldova" out of "historical habit," not "great-power chauvinism"

A joint session of the Belarus and Russian Justice Ministries decided on Thursday to ask Russian officials and media outlets to use "Republic of Belarus" instead of "Byelorussia."

Russian Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov replied that Russians say "Byelorussia," "Moldavia," and "Kirgizia" instead of "Belarus," "Moldova," and "Kyrgyzstan" because of "historical habit" and not "great-power chauvinism."

The afore-mentioned three countries used to be part of the Soviet Union, and Russian-speakers often use the old names instead of the new ones.

The pronounciation of country and city names in the former U.S.S.R. is a political issue, since there are often native and Russian spellings. As a result, people who lean nationalist will often use the native names, while more pro-Russian groups will use the Russian names.

In Moldova, for example, Russian speakers will say "Kishinev" instead of "Chisinau," the Romanian version. The same applies to cities like Balti (Beltsy in Russian), Cahul (Cagul in Russian), and so on.