MOSCOW, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that plans floated by Moldova’s president to hold a referendum on reunification with Romania would be destructive to Moldovan statehood.
President Maia Sandu said last week she would vote in favour of unification with neighbouring Romania if a referendum were to take place, to help protect Moldova’s fragile democracy against Russian pressure. Romania is an EU and NATO member.
Sandu has repeatedly accused Russia of meddling in Moldova, a former Soviet republic of around 2.4 million with a Romanian-speaking majority and a Russian-speaking minority.
Moldova said on Monday it was proceeding with the necessary formalities to complete its withdrawal from the Russia-led Commonwealth of Independent States.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
