literary language did not fully return to Madan's creation and remained closer to Romanian. After 1956, Madan's influences were entirely dropped from school books. This policy remained in effect until 1989. Use of Cyrillic is still enforced in Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria, where it is claimed to be returning the language to its roots. Disbanding On June 26, 1940 the Soviet government issued an ultimatum to the Romanian minister in Moscow, demanding Romania to immediately cede Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. Italy and Germany, which needed a stable Romania and access to its oil fields urged King Carol II to comply. Under duress, with no prospect of aid from France or Britain, Romania ceded those territories. On June 28, Soviet troops crossed the Dniester and occupied Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and the Hertsa region. Territories where ethnic Ukrainians were the largest ethnic group (parts of Northern Bukovina and parts of Hotin, Cetatea Albă, and Izmail), as well as some adjoining regions with a Romanian majority, such as the Hertsa region, were annexed to the Ukrainian SSR. The transfer of Bessarabia's Black Sea and Danube frontage to Ukraine ensured its control by a stable Soviet republic. On August 2, 1940, the Soviet Union established the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (Moldavian SSR), which consisted of six counties of Bessarabia joined with the westernmost part (with an area of ) of what had been the MASSR, effectively dissolving it. Head of Government Revkom October 1924 – April 1925 Griogriy Stary (also Borisov) Soviet People's Commissars April 25, 1925 – May 1926 Aleksey Stroyev May 1926 – 1928 Griogriy Stary 1928 – April 1932 Sergei Dmitriu April 1932 – June 1937 Griogriy Stary (arrested June 22, 1937) July 1938 – ? Fyodor Brovko February 1939 Georgiy Streshny Chairmen of Council Central Executive Committee April 25, 1925 – May 1926 Griogriy Stary May 1926 – May 1937 Yevstafiy Voronovich (shot in 1937) May 1937 – July 1938 Georgiy Streshny (acting) Supreme Council July 1938 – 1940 Tikhon Konstantinov See also Moldavia Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine Grigory Kotovsky Ecaterina Arbore Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Moldova Transnistria Governorate Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic – an ASSR with similar purpose on the Soviet-Finnish frontier Notes References Charles King, The Moldovans: Romania, Russia, and the Politics of Culture, Hoover Institution Press, 2000 Elena Negru