100 Lei Union of Basarabia with Romania

The union being commemorated here occurred on March 27, 1918, when the Sfatul Țării — the legislative assembly of the Moldavian Democratic Republic — voted 86 to 3 to unite Basarabia with Romania, ending a roughly century-long period of Russian imperial control over the territory. The vote came during the chaos of the Russian Revolution, with Bolshevik forces already pressing at the borders.

That Moldova now issues coins marking this event is itself politically charged — the Romanian identity of Basarabia remains contested domestic ground in Chișinău to this day.