Romanian President Traian Basescu on Thursday urged the government to “take over the Petrotel refinery if production doesn’t restart there”.

Romania should be prepared to pay the same price for the refinery that Lukoil paid when it bought it, he added.

“They [the Russians] have to understand that business in Romania is only done with due respect to the law. If this is not clear to Lukoil, it is better for them to leave Romania,” he added.

Basescu’s outpsoken statements came one day after Lukoil officials threatened to completely shut down the refinery if prosecutors investigating fraud do not lift their seizure of company assets by a Friday deadline.

Earlier this week, prosecutors seized oil and fuel inventories worth 1.04 billion lei (230 million euro) belonging to Petrotel Lukoil, which is the local Romanian subsidiary of the Russian group, Lukoil.

The prosecutors’ action is connected to a tax evasion and money laundering probe into Petrotel Lukoil.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta said that it was too early to take drastic action. “Romania is ready to act in order to protect its energy interests and also the rights of workers at the refinery,” he said.

If the Russian-owned company stops all activity at the refinery in connection to the dispute, around 3,500 workers are in danger of losing their jobs.

The Petrotel Lukoil refinery is one of the largest oil refineries in Romania and Eastern Europe. It was sold to Lukoil in 1998.

Lukoil Europe Holdings, part of Lukoil, owns 97.1 per cent of the refinery, and other shareholders own the remaining 2.89 per cent.

The spat over the refinery is not helping relations between Romania and Russia, which are already rocky. NATO-member Romania has been among the strongest regional backers of the package of Western sanctions imposed on Russia in connection to events in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

Last October, Russia was also angered when the US started installing missile interceptors at the Deveselu military base in southern Romania, as part of the second phase of the US-led project to build a missile shield in Europe.