Petru Lucinschi (b. 27 January 1940, Rădulenii Vechi, Florești district) is a Moldovan politician who served as a Soviet party dignitary (including First Secretary of the Communist Party of Moldavia) and later as President of the Republic of Moldova (1997–2001). He graduated from the State University of Moldova in 1962. He is a member of the Academy of Social Sciences of the Russian Federation (Moscow). He holds a PhD in Philosophy (1977). During 1960–1971, Petru Lucinschi held the positions of: instructor, chief of department, secretary, First Secretary of the CC of the Moldavian Leninist Communist Youth Union. Later (1971–1976) he was a Secretary of the CC of the CPM. During 1976–1978 Lucinschi held the position of First Secretary of the Chisinau City Committee of the CPM. He worked as deputy chief of department at the CC of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during 1978–1986. He then was appointed Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Tajikistan during 1986–1989. In 1989 Lucinschi was elected as First Secretary of the CC of the CPM, a position he held until 1990. In 1990–1991 he was a secretary of the Central Committee and a member of the Political Bureau of the CC of the CPSU. During 1991–1992 he held the position of senior researcher at the Institute for Social-Political Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow). He was also executive director of the Social Sciences Development Fund of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow). During 1992–1993 Lucinchi was the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to the Russian Federation. He was elected Chairman of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova on February 4, 1993 and then reelected as Chairman of the Parliament on March 29, 1994. Petru Lucinschi held the position of President of the Republic of Moldova from 15 January 1997 to 4 April 2001. He was a member of the Supreme Soviet of the MSSR (1967–1980), member of the Supreme Soviet of the Tajik SSR (1986–1990), and member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1986–1991). From 1990 until 1996 he was a Member of Parliament of the Republic of Moldova. Currently he is chairman of the Lucinschi Foundation for Strategic Studies and Development of International Relations. Petru Lucinschi holds several distinctions and awards: The Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (France, 1998), Order of the Redeemer (Greece, 1999), Grand Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre (Greek Orthodox Church, Jerusalem, 2000), and the Collar grade of the Star of Romania Order (Romania, 2000). In the context of the present collection, Lucinschi’s position and role were somewhat ambiguous: while he played the role of an ideological vigilante in December 1970, he was also instrumental in assisting Noroc’s leader, Mihai Dolgan, to re-create the group under a new guise and name, Contemporanul (The Contemporary), in 1974. Lucinschi also reflected on the Noroc phenomenon in a later interview.