 In its declaration of independence of August 27, 1991, the government of Moldova condemned the creation of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic and declared that it had no legal basis.As a historical region, Bessarabia was the eastern part of the Principality of Moldavia.In 1812, under the terms of the Treaty of Bucharest, the region was ceded by the Ottoman Empire (to which Moldavia was a vassal state) to the Russian Empire.