After the Ambassador of the United States of America in Moldova, James Pettit, declared in an interview for the public TV channel M1 that “Moldova is not Romania” and that it has a different history and identity, several politicians, public persons and part of the public opinion came with declarations doubting the politically correctness of His Excellency.

Asked about the viability of both the statehood of the Republic of Moldova and the Union of Moldova with Romania, Pettit declared:

“I think it is important, and it is our policy, and I think it is a policy here, that Moldova needs to remain a sovereign and independent country inside secure borders. Joining Romania, for example, is a mean to get into the EU or for whatever reason, is really not a practical solution, it is not practical choice, it is not a choice that is going to make things better. What will make things better here in Moldova is for the political class and the people all cooperate for making this a better country for Moldovans. Moldova is not Romania, Moldova has its own unique history, it has its own unique challenges. Among those challenges there is the fact that Moldova is a multietnic country with people speaking different languages, of course there is the issue of Transnistria, that is not even under central government control, but needs a special status which is an ultimate goal, but a special status within Republic of Moldova”.

This statement incited Romanian sentiments in a part of the political class and society.

On August 30th, several unionist organizations together and dozens of people protested in front of the US Embassy in Chișinău, calling for the resignation of Ambassador Pettit:



At the same time, “Platforma 2012” organized a protest in Bucharest, forming a map of the Great Romania (1918-1940) out of history books, supposedly brought to the American Ambassador. They also sent letters to the US State Department and Secretary John Kerry.



Previously, the Liberal leader Mihai Ghimpu expressed his dissatisfaction on Pettit’s statement:

“It is profoundly regrettable that His Excellency makes statements that, not only violates the sovereignty of Moldova and the right of citizens to decide their own future, but reminds us of the Russian imperial diplomacy strategy, which through Ambassador Kuzmin, was intervening in the identity questions in Moldova, saying what books to use, what language to speak and how to identify ourselves as nation, in general”, said Ghimpu.

Former Romania President Traian Băsescu sees Pettit’s statement “similar to those from Stalin’s time and precious to Putin’s propaganda”:

“The big question is whether Ambassador James Pettit expressed the official point of view of the USA, or the words said by him just reflect serious lack of knowledge of the place he is doing mission in”, reacted Băsescu.

Former Moldova PM Ion Sturza addressed to His Excellency, rhetorically asking the right to give lessons on identity:

“Dear Excellency, US Ambassador James Pettit,

This is too much… I am shocked. After you “stabilized” us, throwing into the hands of the corrupt oligarchy, you give us lessons of identity?!”



The Democrat Dumitru Diacov welcomed the opinion of Ambassador Pettit, claiming that is a reaction to the “unionist hysteria” started by Băsescu, politicians from both Moldova and Romania. The Pro-Russian Socialist leader and Presidential candidate, Igor Dodon, “reminded” that Moldova is an independent and sovereign state and expressed his hope that every Ambassador would “point out this fact in his declarations”.

Romanian politicians, including Senate President Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu and senator Viorel Badea, reacted with concern on Pettit’s statement, asking the US Secretary of State in a letter to give explanation to this event of US foreign policy.

On August 30th, at the Annual Reunion of Romanian Diplomacy, the Deputy Secretary of NATO, Alexander Vershbow, commented the statement of the US Ambassador, neutrally declaring that both states are sovereign states that need to be respected. Vershbow added that Moldova and Romania have old history and language ties and that each country have to decide its future by itself.

The most recent polls state that 24-28% of the citizens of Moldova totally support the union of Romania. The topic started to be again actual in the last 6 years, as a consequence of lost confidence in Moldova’s statehood and political class.

The entire interview of His Excellency James Pettit can be watched here:



James D.Pettit was assigned as the new Ambassador of US in Moldova by Barack Obama on 22 of May 2014. Pettit worked as deputy chief of the U.S. embassy in Kiev and General Consul of the U.S. embassies in Moscow and Vienna.