Republic of Moldova risks losing its territorial integrity, as it gets closer to Romania, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said. The statements were made in an interview published on Friday by the daily ‘Kommersant’ after Russian official’s visit to Moldova.
“It’s obvious even to the fiercest supporters of the union with Romania, that if Moldova takes a step towards Romania, Transdnestria region will break up from this abrupt turn,” Rogozin said.
The Russia official added that if the citizens of Moldova wish to join Romania, “it would be better to let Transdnestria leave amicably and, if they do not want to join Romania, if they wish to remain a sovereign state, a smart state, who protects all its citizens, then this will take years, but those years will not be in vain, because they would be used to restore the country’s territorial integrity.”
Rogozin also said that it is impossible to talk about resuming discussions on the status of the Transdnestria region because the two sides are not ready for negotiations at this scale.
Late last year, Moldova asked the Russian Federation to withdraw its troops from Transdnestria. The answer came in May when Russia held military exercises in Transdnestria, attended by hundreds of soldiers and war vehicles, ziare.com reports.