Maia Sandu: The Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact drew lines through the middle of some nations. What is today the Republic of Moldova was separated from Romania

The President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, stated in a speech held in the Parliament of Latvia, drawing a parallel between the history of the two countries, that the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact “drew lines through the middle of some nations, through families, through lives that had no say”, the consequence being that “what is today the Republic of Moldova was torn from Romania”.

“In August 1939, two men sat down at the table in Moscow and divided Europe on paper. The Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact drew lines through nations, through families, through lives that had no say. What it established was monstrous: that certain peoples would belong to an empire they never chose. Latvia knows this to the core of its bones. Your parliament has been dissolved. overnight. Entire families were taken to Siberia, but simply because they were Latvian. What is today, the Republic of Moldova, has been rewritten. Our history has been rewritten deliberately and systematically cut”, said Maia Sandu in the speech delivered on Wednesday in the Parliament of Latvia, reports News.ro.

She said that when the Soviet Union collapsed, Latvia had the moral clarity of a people who never really accepted what was imposed on them, while Moldova emerged more divided.

“Decades under the Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union eroded our self-awareness. An insecure people cannot easily agree on where they belong. Latvia joined the EU in 2004. Moldova hesitated. Not because we were less European. But because it took longer to recover what was taken from us. We are recovering now. And the consequences of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact will not be fully annulled – not really – until every country it has thrown into the gray areas is anchored in the European Union. Free at last,” said Maia Sandu.

Maia Sandu and the pro-union statements

Union with Romania would be one of the ways to ensure that the Republic of Moldova will remain part of the free world and live in peace, especially in the current regional and international context, said President Maia Sandu in her first press conference this year. She specified that she did not discuss the topic of union with European leaders and repeated that the country will focus on joining the EU, as there is currently no public opinion favorable to union among the Moldovan electorate.

Maia Sandu also stated, in an interview granted to British journalists, that she would vote for the union of the Republic of Moldova with Romania, in the event of a referendum on this issue. She argued that a possible reunification could strengthen the resilience of the Republic of Moldova, in the context in which the Russian Federation is waging a war of aggression against Ukraine and tried to influence the electoral processes in the Republic of Moldova. The president's statement sparked a wave of reactions on both banks of the Prut and intensified public discussions about the union of the two countries.

After Maia Sandu's statement, several officials from Chisinau, including Prime Minister Alexandru Munteanu and the Minister of Culture, Cristian Jardan, declared that they would support the union in case of a vote in this sense. For his part, the deputy of the Democracy at Home party, Vasile Costiuc, known for his unionist positions and a close friend of George Simion, the leader of the AUR, announced that he intends to propose the organization of a referendum on this subject at the first session of the Parliament this year.

However, sociological data show that the idea of ​​union does not enjoy the support of the majority of Moldovan citizens.