Moldova’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mihai Popșoi said on January 19 that reunification with Romania could become a necessity if Russia “gets too close to our borders”.

Popșoi’s comment came several days after President Maia Sandu recently raised the topic in a podcast and Prime Minister Alexandru Munteanu confirmed at the end of last week that he would personally vote for the reunification of Moldova with Romania. 

Asked whether he would vote for reunification, Popșoi said the answer “should be self-evident” for Moldovans who hold Romanian citizenship. Out of around 3.3mn Moldovan citizens with voting rights, about 1mn also hold Romanian citizenship.

“And [Russia] has already come close since 2014,” Popșoi said on January 19 during a programme aired by public broadcaster Radio Moldova.

Sandu has not confirmed any imminent plans for reunification. In her recent statements, she has referred instead to the necessity of a referendum as a prerequisite for any potential unification.

Popșoi also stressed that a public referendum would be mandatory and that reunification would require “an overwhelming majority” of support.

“If this were a simple decision, it would have been made already. But until there’s a majority supporting this desire for unification, it won’t happen, regardless of the wishes of this or that politician,” he said.

While not the baseline scenario, reunification with Romania could become a solution of last resort, the foreign minister argued.

“Obviously, if the situation spirals out of control and not only the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, but also the lives and existence of our citizens, are threatened, then we will have to make difficult decisions,” Popșoi said. “But we want to live in peace. We do not want a Russian invasion and hope that the parties to the conflict [Russia, Ukraine] will reach a peace agreement.”

The renewed discussion of reunification on the public agenda in Chișinău prompted a reaction from Moscow.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on January 20 that plans allegedly floated by Moldova’s president to hold a referendum on reunification with Romania would be destructive to Moldovan statehood — a concept frequently invoked by the pro-Russian Socialist Party led by Igor Dodon. Lavrov accused the Moldovan authorities of anti-Russian propaganda and of subordination to the European Union, according to Deschide.md.