The article sets out the main steps towards the independence. In 1988, the Concept of Territorial Self-
Management of the Republic of Molbdova was elaborated. It has been shown in the concept that the value of
annual exports exceeds that of imports (in the 1980s). Then in 1990 the decision on the Concept of transition to a
market economy in the Republic of Moldova was adopted, within which was taken the decision with regards to
the need to issue the national currency (the leu). At the same time, the Treaty of Independent / Sovereign States
(1990) was rejected, respectively a new scheme of relations between states was proposed "X + 0" (where "X" -
was the number of states, and "0" - the lack of an administrative center) in place of the previous scheme "15 +
1" (where 15 means the number of former union republics). Then followed the rejection of the union referendum
(which provided for the preservation of the former imperialist state based on the so-called "socialism with a
human face"). Finally, the independence itself, as well as the exposure of the pros and cons of the reunification
of Bessarabia with Romania-motherland. Analyzing most of the factors favorable to the Union, in the article is
made an important conclusion: that the pro-union factors were then dominant over the anti-union ones. An
important historical opportunity was missed.