The Republic of Moldova is the country landlocked by Ukraine and Romania who are the only country’s land-border neighbours. No doubt, the situation in Moldova matters for both Bucharest in Kyiv. Security risks, economic uncertainty, energy-supplies dependence and environmental challenges may have spillover effect and cross-border impact and affect Ukraine and Romania. The country also has strong historical, cultural and linguistic ties with Romania whereas Ukrainian minority in Moldova is the second largest which is another argument in favor of close relations within a triangle. That also results in a special place of the Republic of Moldova in the foreign and security strategies of both states, although such strategies and the respective policies are not necessarily explicit and coherent. There is another common denominator which defines Ukraine’s and Romania’s policy towards the Republic of Moldova. Bearing in mind geopolitical competition in the region and Russia’s attempts to secure its zone of influence, both Kyiv and Bucharest favor Moldova’s pro-European choice and support European choice of the Republic of Moldova. The validity of this argument has only increased when the EU granted candidate status to both Ukraine and Moldova.

Sergiy Gerasymchuk Policy Brief

Sergiy Gerasymchuk is the Deputy Executive Director, Regional Initiatives and Neighborhood Program Director. Sergiy is involved in political studies since 2001 and has the experience of working for the Secretariat of the Parliament of Ukraine, scientific research institutions under the President of Ukraine and under Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. Besides, he was involved in the project implemented by national and international think tanks in Ukraine and in the area of Eastern Partnership. The areas of professional interest: political studies and political process in Ukraine, the activities of think tanks and civil society, regional security and frozen conflicts, transborder cooperation.

This policy brief is developed within the project “Romanian – Ukrainian Civil Society Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation. Third edition”, implemented by the Experts for Security and Global Affairs Association, Romania, in partnership with Strategic and Security Studies Group and Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian PRISM ”, Ukraine, with the support of Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation, a project of the German Marshall Fund. The views expressed in this policy paper are those of the author and do not necessarily coincide with those of ESGA partners