Tom Markovich Zenovich (russian: Том Маркович Зенович; born February 25, 1939) was a politician and former presidential candidate from

Transnistria Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...

, a break-away region of

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

. Prior to his presidential run in 2001 he was mayor of Bender, Transnistria's second largest city. He claims that as a result of opposing Igor Smirnov, he was subject to

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

that spread rumours that he was a Jew (which is not true) and was forced to give up his seat as mayor. In the biography of his political program posters he described his occupation as "unemployed". He told the British Helsinki Human Rights Group that he feared for his personal safety after the elections. He is an advocate of conditional re-unification with Moldova and pro-

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

. Tom Zenovich is fluent Russian,

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

, but he almost doesn't speak

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. As a presidential candidate in the 9 December 2001 Transnistrian presidential election he came second, failing to beat the incumbent Igor Smirnov but getting more votes than his other rival, human rights activist Alexander Radchenko.

References

External links

Transnistria 2001: Presidential Election
Report of British Helsinki Human Rights Group Living people Transnistrian politicians 1965 births {{Moldova-politician-stub