After partial elections for Vaslui's 2nd College (April 1877), Carp took a Senate seat. He watched with concern as the PNL drew Romania closer to Russia, and as Russia prepared to confront the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans refused to guarantee Romanian neutrality in the case of war, and Foreign Minister Mihail Kogălniceanu began meeting with the Russian envoys; Carp regretted Ottoman indifference, stating: "abandoned by all, we have been pushed into the arms of Russia". He also asked, rhetorically, "what is our guarantee against Russia?" Just before the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, he criticized Premier Ion Brătianu for allowing safe passage to Russian troops. His argument was that the intrusion of "30,000 foreign bayonets" posed a great threat for Romania's future. Still a skeptic, Carp welcomed his country's independence war on the Ottomans, but continued to warn his peers about any unwanted effects of the Russian alliance.