PressOne file. What is happening to the Republic of Moldova in the context of the Russian invasion and why it should not matter
In the last three weeks since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Moldova, a country of 2.6 million people, which is neither NATO nor the EU, has become essential for managing the consequences of the war.
Romania shares a length of border almost equal to the two states: around 650 kilometers. However, Moldova currently hosts the largest number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe (over 5% of the country’s population).
And on its territory there is an enclave controlled by the Russian Federation, where about 2,000 Russian soldiers and 20,000 tons of weapons are stationed. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) also declared Transnistria as aofficially occupied by Russia”.
PressOne covered the problems facing the Republic of Moldova at this time from several angles and tried to explain to the Romanian public, through a series of complex materials, why our country, and the Romanian authorities, should care about what . what’s going on across the Prut.
And why the vulnerabilities of the Republic of Moldova, both economic and political or military, are both vulnerabilities of the EU and NATO in the face of Russian aggression.
“If you look at the size of our country, if you look at our recent history, our economic situation, you can deduce for yourself: we are the most fragile neighbors in Ukraine.“, Says Nicu Popescu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Moldova. This analysis of the vulnerabilities of Moldova through the first situation of refugees, but also of the self-proclaimed regions of Transnistria, will explain why.
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Two PressOne reporters spent several hours in Tiraspol, shortly after Moldova signed a bid to join the European Union, and Transnistrian authorities again called on Chisinau to recognize independence. All against the backdrop of the cynical war launched arbitrarily by the Putin regime in Ukraine.
Mihaela has a short haircut, has a few tattoos on her hand and cries at the window. He had just told a foreigner, out of breath, that he was going to Chisinau for the last time. “To settle with the apartment”. This is the plan: she solves what she has to solve and then she leaves the country for good, with her parents and everything. Where? “We do not know. Germany or Spain”. Are you leaving because of the war? “I’m leaving because I’m scared. ”
How do young people in Chisinau think that the war of their lives will change them? What are their future prospects? Find out from this report on the streets of the capital of the Republic of Moldova.
For two weeks now, with the outbreak of the armed conflict in Ukraine, the national bubbles in Romania to be smelled or a new opportunity: the reunification of Romania Dodoloațe. If Russia kept going over the Ukrainians, with the intention of fragmenting the country and occupying territories that had not belonged to it for three decades, wouldn’t we be better off taking advantage of it? We have a Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to recover, say the nationalists, so why not do it now?
An analysis that explains this idea of the union between Romania and the Republic of Moldova is not only absurd, but also dangerous.
Just a few days after the beginning of the invasion, together with our partners from the Northern Television of the Republic of Moldova (TVN.MD), I made a video report with testimonies of Ukrainian refugees passing through the Ocnita-Secureni customs.
We will continue the series of materials about Moldova, hoping that these articles will help the Romanian public to be well informed about this event there, but also to raise in our public space the need for a stronger discussion on how. in which Romania can help quickly and decisively in this extremely dangerous international context.