The United States has rebuffed a pro-Russia politician's claim that Washington was "plotting" Moldova's unification with European Union and NATO member Romania.
Igor Dodon, the leader of the opposition Socialist Party of Moldova (PSRM), told a Russian daily last week that Washington was pressing for the "terrible scenario" of the unification of Moldova and Romania and urged Chisinau to return "back in the U.S.S.R." through membership of the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union.
Dodon's accusation was "categorically false," the U.S. Embassy in Chisinau said on February 9. "The Republic of Moldova is a sovereign nation and the United States fully supports its independence and territorial integrity," the embassy said in an email to RFE/RL.
Dodon, who leads the largest single party in Moldova's parliament, was at the forefront of last month's anticorruption protests in Chisinau.
Demonstrations peaked in late January after lawmakers approved a new pro-European cabinet but have since ground mostly to a halt aside from a small tent camp in Chisinau.
Dodon and another pro-Russian opposition leader, Renato Usatii, leader of the Our Party (PN), want closer ties with Moscow.
They have been calling for early elections, which opinion polls say pro-Russians would easily win.
Early polls have also been demanded by a pro-EU party and some civic groups who accuse the current political establishment of being deeply corrupt.
