A man holds his child while families fleeing Ukraine due to the Russian invasion wait to enter a refugee camp in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, on March 3, 2022.
Nikolai Doichinov Afp | Getty Images
WASHINGTON – Russia’s war against Ukraine has revealed a number of new threats to the landlocked small nation of Moldova, which is struggling with an influx of Ukrainian refugees while maintaining full dependence on Russian gas.
Moldova is the smallest nation in Eastern Europe, with a population of less than 3 million and a landmass slightly larger than the state of Maryland. In less than two months, however, he was overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of civilians fleeing Russia’s ongoing military campaign.
“Of course, we cannot compare ourselves to Ukraine and the tragedy that Ukraine is going through,” Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu told a crowd of experts from think tanks at the German Marshall Fund in Washington, DC, on April 19th.
“But we are Ukraine’s most fragile neighbor because we are the country most affected and the country with the least resources to deal with the situation and the consequences of the war,” Popescu added.
Popescu, who wrapped up a series of meetings at the State Department last week, said more than 400,000 people fleeing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war had moved to Moldova.
“We all allowed it because they are fleeing the war,” Popescu said, adding that Moldova has eased entry and visa requirements for Ukrainian citizens and is currently working to ensure long-term access to health care and education.
“This is much faster, much bigger than anything that has been seen,” Popescu said, adding that the refugee crisis has threatened Moldova’s stability and economic development.
Ukrainian refugees stand by their belongings after arriving from Moldova at Bordeaux International Airport on April 21, 2022.
Philip Lopez AFP | Getty Images
The ongoing war in the neighborhood has left landlocked Moldova, a former Soviet republic and one of Europe’s poorest nations, in a precarious position.
Hoping to alleviate Moldova’s instability, the country submitted a questionnaire needed for European Union membership last week. The application process comes when Russian officials hint that the Kremlin’s war may have the potential to spread beyond Ukraine.
On Friday, Russian Commander Rustam Minekayev said Moscow wanted “full control” of eastern and southern Ukraine.
Minekayev explained that the conquest of this part of the country would allow the Kremlin to create a “land corridor” from Russia east to Transnistria to Crimea, a Black Sea peninsula that Russia forcibly annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Asked about a potential Russian invasion of Moldova, Igor Zhovkva, deputy head of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s office, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Russian troops were more likely to move to Moldova.
“Now they want to take over the whole Donbass. Yes, they want to have the connection between Donbass and Crimea, “Zhovkva told NBC. “As for Moldova, yes, we have heard these statements from Russian officials,” Zhovkva continued. “Who knows? You never know with Russia, but it could be very likely.”
Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu spoke at a bilateral meeting hosted by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken at the State Department in Washington, DC, on April 18, 2022.
Stephanie Reynolds AFP | Getty Images
In addition to Moldova’s vulnerability on the Eastern European front line is its complete dependence on Russian gas supplies.
Popescu said 100% of Moldova’s gas supplies come from Russia, and 80% of its electricity comes from the Transnistrian region, a heavily armed breakaway region controlled by Russia, with borders touching Ukraine and Moldova.
“We are very, very vulnerable to energy sustainability,” Popescu said, adding that due to Moldova’s geography, his country has limited access to international trade.
“We used to import a lot of goods from Ukraine and a lot through Ukraine from the port of Odessa, which was the cheapest way to deliver, but now it has stopped,” he said, adding that Moldova is working aggressively to establish new trade relations.
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