Gagauzia developed into a multicultural region under the early stages of Romanian rule. The Gagauz resisted measures to bring about their Romanianization or expulsion, but were also exposed to Russification during the first and second Soviet occupations. This process was intensified following the consolidation of a Moldavian SSR within the Soviet Union, although some linguistic concessions were made in the 1950s and '60s. The first attested nationalist flags of the Gagauz people emerged during the "Perestroika" years, before the fall of the Moldavian SSR. The emancipation movement used "a light blue field bearing a centered yellow disk charged with a black wolf's head." This was also reported as a black wolf's head in profile, on a golden circle with outer white ring, all on a field of light blue. Another variant of the flag, which was notably painted as a mural in Comrat, is "blue with white borders and has a white medallion in the middle showing the Bozkurt". This was originally a military flag, designed in 1990 by Petru (Pötr) Vlah. In his version, the wolf's head, colored grey, was shown in profile, facing the mast; the bordure was a sewn pattern.