The unification of Moldova with Romania would pose a threat to Russia's national security, according to officials in Moscow, despite the fact that Moldova does not even share a border with Russia. The statements were made after Maia Sandu said she would vote for unification in the event of a referendum.
NEWS: The President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, has stated that she would vote for the country's unification with Romania in a referendum on the issue. Her statement was made against the backdrop of rising military spending and the closure of the Russian House in Chișinău. According to experts interviewed by NEWS.ru, the head of state is deliberately severing all ties with the Russian Federation and destroying the identity of the Moldovan people.
[...] "Maia Sandu's statements about her willingness to vote for unification with Romania are not a random slip of the tongue, but a programmatic declaration," State Duma deputy Aliona Arshinova told NEWS.ru. "From the outset, it was clear that she was actively involving the entire population of Moldova, including those on the left bank of the Dniester," in obtaining Romanian citizenship, the parliamentarian stressed.
[..] The leader of the “A Just Russia” party, Sergei Mironov, said that Maia Sandu's plans pose a direct threat to the national security of the Russian Federation.
"By talking about a referendum on the unification with Romania, the so-called president of Moldova, Sandu, is revealing not only the century-old plans of Romanian nationalists. This is about the West's intention to bring a republic historically close to Russia into NATO," the parliamentarian said in an interview with NEWS.ru.
At the end of last year, Moldova approved the decision to terminate the agreement with Russia on the activities of the Russian House in Chisinau. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the republic was instructed to notify Moscow of the unilateral withdrawal from the agreement. This measure is expected to come into force in mid-2026.
This is just one of Maia Sandu's steps aimed at severing all ties with the Russian Federation. During her term in office, Russian television stations have disappeared from Moldova's information space, and any manifestation of a pro-Russian position is labeled a threat to national security.
"What will follow can easily be imagined by looking at the example of the Baltic states, where, against the backdrop of the resurgence of Nazism, everything Russian and related to Russia has been destroyed for many years," Mironov said.
NARRATIVES: 1. A possible union between the Republic of Moldova and Romania poses a threat to Russia's security. 2. The government in Chișinău promotes Russophobia. 3. Maia Sandu encourages Moldovan citizens to obtain Romanian citizenship.
PURPOSE: To promote the idea that Moldova's pro-European orientation and possible internal debates on unification with Romania would pose a direct threat to the security of the Russian Federation, in order to rhetorically justify Moscow's right to intervene in its internal affairs; To induce the perception that the authorities in Chisinau are pursuing a systematic policy of Russophobia, with the aim of victimizing the Russian-speaking community and fueling internal and external discontent; To promote the idea that Maia Sandu would impose or artificially encourage Moldovan citizens to obtain Romanian citizenship, in order to suggest the loss of state sovereignty and the "dissolution" of Moldovan identity, thus undermining public confidence in state institutions and the country's European path.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: A potential union between the Republic of Moldova and Romania, which would indeed entail NATO's expansion to the Dniester River, cannot affect Russia's security, as there is no common border between the two states. Most likely, the Russian official's statements reveal Moscow's hidden intentions to maintain its sphere of influence in Transnistria, a separatist region in eastern Moldova, and/or to occupy as much Ukrainian territory as possible.
The alleged Russophobia promoted by the government in Chișinău is one of the narratives that has become increasingly common in recent times. Its main purposes are, on the one hand, to draw a parallel between the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, where Russia started the war under these slogans, and on the other hand, to rally the ranks of Russian-speaking ethnic minorities. Veridica has previously debunked similar falsehoods— that the government is preparing to close Russian-language schools , that history textbooks are being rewritten to justify the confrontation with Russia , and that the Transnistrian conflict was triggered by Russophobia and Romanian nationalism.
Moldovan citizens began to regain Romanian citizenship (those whose grandparents/great-grandparents lived in Bessarabia during the interwar period and were therefore Romanian citizens) as early as the 1990s. The process gained momentum in the 2000s, especially after Romania's accession to the EU. Maia Sandu, along with approximately one million other Moldovan citizens, also holds Romanian citizenship, but Maia Sandu did not initiate this process, nor did she promote it.
LOCAL CONTEXT/ ETHOS: The current territory of the Republic of Moldova was part of the medieval Moldavian state, but was annexed by the Tsarist Empire in 1812. In 1917, following the Bolshevik Revolution, it proclaimed its independence, but a few months later, on March 27, 1918, the “Council of the Country” , the then legislature in Chișinău, decided to unite with Romania. Moscow did not recognize the union and in 1940, following the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, it annexed the territory between the Prut and Nistru rivers again, redrew its borders, and created the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. Against the backdrop of the collapse of the USSR, it proclaimed its independence on August 27, 1991.
Throughout this period, both in the Republic of Moldova and in Romania, there have been and continue to be unionist movements and parties. In the Republic of Moldova, where Russian-speaking ethnic minorities also live, the idea of unification with Romania does not have the support of the majority of the population, according to polls, even though in recent years support has reached over 30 percent.
Maia Sandu has recently stated in an interview with the British podcast "The Rest Is Politics" that at a referendum on the unification of the Republic of Moldova with Romania she would vote in favor . She explained her choice by pointing to the risks facing the Republic of Moldova, particularly from Russia. At the same time, she pointed out that this idea does not have the support of the majority of the population, unlike European integration, and that Chișinău is moving in this direction. "As president of the Republic of Moldova, I understand that there is no majority in favor of unification with Romania, but there is a majority in favor of joining the European Union, and we are working towards this goal. It is a much more realistic goal and helps us protect our sovereignty."
