Consider This from NPR - Refugee Assistance From One Of Europe's Poorest Countries

Episode Date: April 9, 2022

More than 400,000 Ukrainian refugees have poured across the border into the small country of Moldova, one of the poorest countries in Europe. Wedged between Ukraine and Romania, Moldova is a little bigger than Maryland, but it has received the most refugees per capita of any country in this crisis. Now Moldova is providing assistance and support to those who are choosing to stay in the country. Even as they open their doors to Ukrainian refugees, many in the small country fear they may be next in line for invasion by Russian forces. Moldova declared independence from the Soviet Union shortly after its fall in 1991, but since then there have been Russian troops stationed in a separatist region of the country called Transnistria. Moldova fears it would not be able to fend off a Russian offensive. NPR's Frank Langfitt explains why Moldova is in such a perilous position, and we talk to aid workers about how they are supporting Ukranians fleeing war.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. On the web at theschmidt.org. Two young boys had started a soccer match on a fenced-in playing field when they picked up some unexpected teammates. It was a field staff member for the U.S. Agency for International Development, along with the executive director of the organization running the campus where the boys are living for now. The complex used to be a conference center and hostel in Chisinau, the Republic of Moldova's capital city. Now, since February 27, it is for the refugees. Irina Ryzhik is one of them. She made her way here from Kharkiv with her two daughters,

aged three and a half and 12. What was your experience getting here? How did you get here? Irina told us she spent more than a week in the basement as her city was attacked by Russian missiles. When her apartment was hit, a neighbor offered her and her daughters a ride to Moldova along with his family. So she took it and ended up at Caritas Moldova. The NGO is providing refugees more than a place to stay. Here's Edward Lukasz again. Food, psycho-emotional support, medical support. We're referring them, for example, to the authorities

if they need some legal documents, organizing them some transport for the EU countries. Moldova isn't a member of the EU, with all the economic advantages that can bring. And it's a small country, roughly the size of Maryland, wedged between Ukraine and Romania. And yet the country has the largest concentration of Ukrainian refugees per capita.

While most have already passed through, tens of thousands are staying, either because they have nowhere else to go or feel more comfortable with the language and location. Some are still hoping to evacuate relatives, but others say they want to go back to Ukraine as soon as possible. And still others don't know what to do. They're in limbo. We have to be prepared for everything. We don't want to keep them here in this institution. We are paying all the efforts to give them an independent life. We don't know how long

we'll last this tragedy. The war in Ukraine shows no sign of stopping. And according to the UN, more than 4 million people have already fled. Moldova and its people opened their doors. We've seen the immediate knee-jerk reaction to put in infrastructure to host a massive refugee influx. It didn't have that humanitarian architecture in place. It's incredible how fast they put it together. Consider this. Refugees poured across the Moldovan border during the first two weeks of the war in Ukraine.

And as the conflict continues, they prepare for more. So how is one of the poorest countries in Europe handling this crisis? That's coming up. For NPR News, I'm Michelle Martin. It's Saturday, April 9th. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally,

and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today, or visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply. It's Consider This from NPR. Moldova is nestled between Romania and Ukraine, close to the Black Sea. On the day I visited Chisinau, Moldova's capital, Russia had launched a missile at Odessa, Ukraine's southern port city. And this makes our planning, contingency planning, a bit more relevant, unfortunately.

So we are ready to respond. At a warehouse run by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, Supply Officer Arbon Haidini has been preparing for this exact situation, the Odessa scenario. He's been stockpiling life-saving items. Family tents, blankets, sleeping bags, kitchen sets, plastic turbolins, sleeping mats, solar lamps, and more other items are coming shortly. Have you had to use them already? Are people sleeping in tents? No, not in Europe, no. But we are prepositioning them in case of a mass influx. Right now we're planning for at least 100,000 refugees.

More than 400,000 refugees have already crossed Moldova's border, and about 95,000 have stayed. Some 45,000 of those staying are children. But they haven't needed the emergency supplies. That's because so far, 90 percent of refugees in Moldova are finding housing with relatives, host families, or in rented apartments. They've been supported by a new cash assistance program managed by UNHCR, the World Food Program, and its partners. Each refugee can apply to receive $120 a month, and host families are eligible for a one-time payment of $190. Senior emergency coordinator for UNHCR Bertrand Blanc says they're hoping to sign up 100,000 refugees.

We already have 25,000 in the pipeline, and I already gave the credit card to 4,000 of them. But the humanitarian response in Moldova isn't only coming from NGOs. I mean, we've seen an incredible reception from the Moldovan government, first and foremost. I'm standing in the lobby of a former exhibition centre talking to Esther Judah, an emergency programme officer with the World Food Programme. The centre that we're standing in now, it's been established by the Moldovan government.

We're coming in as a humanitarian community and we're supporting. The pavilions and buildings at Mold Expo have been converted to house up to 400 refugees at a time. The World Food Programme has been helping the Moldovan government and other NGOs provide three hot meals to refugees staying in transition centres like this one. So it's not a response where we've had to step in

in some other countries and start it from zero. And more than that, we've seen the incredible response from the community here, the host community. If we look around us, we have all these young volunteers from Moldova for Peace. These guys are volunteers. They're here on a Sunday morning doing this out of the kindness of their heart. It's really an incredible response. Alex Chaban is one of those volunteers. I'm ready to do whatever I can in order to help them feel safer and feel them at least a little bit like home. But Chaban tells us that not everybody in his life is supportive of his efforts.

Chaban grew up near two borders, Ukraine and Chaznistria. That's a separatist region in Moldova where Russia has stationed troops. I'm coming from the region where it's very, people have mixed understanding about the situation. Coming up, does this Russian-backed separatist region make the non-NATO, non-EU Moldova Putin's next target? Support for NPR and the following message come from Carnegie Corporation of New York, working to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace. More information at carnegie.org. Like just about everyone in Eastern Europe, Moldovans are watching the work closely,

but few countries are as vulnerable as Moldova. NPR's Frank Lankvitt explains. Before dawn on February 24th, Ewan Minoli, a human rights lawyer here in Kishineau, got a phone call. A colleague told him, open your window. Outside, Minoli could hear the sound of Russian missiles exploding in the distance. My first thoughts was that interesting something started,

or Moldova, this part of Moldova, was attacked. Were you scared? Everybody's scared. If someone will tell you he's not scared, he will lie. Manoli's referring to Transnistria, a separatist region of Moldova. Transnistria is home to about 1,500 Russian troops, at least 8,000 Transnistrian soldiers, and has been under effective Russian control since the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Manoli has won dozens of cases against Russia over human rights abuses in Transnistria. He was afraid if Russian troops invaded Moldova, they'd detain him. We are persona non grata in Transnistria. We have criminal cases against us. We prepared our legacies to be able to leave. In fact, the explosions Manoli heard came from over the border in Ukraine. But people here feared Russia might invade because of the way President Vladimir Putin views some former Soviet republics.

Aleksandr Flenka served as a deputy prime minister in Moldova's government. Putin's global ambition is to rebuild, in some shape or form, the Soviet Union. And Flankes says the Russian leader sees a nation such as Moldova, or Ukraine for that matter, as not really legitimate. A country that accidentally became a country because of what he called the greatest geopolitical catastrophe in history, the collapse of the Soviet Union.

So to Putin, countries like Moldova, the Baltic states, and even Poland, they're not nations that have a right to be sovereign countries. Which helps explain why people in Moldova, which is just slightly larger than Maryland, feel nervous. Analysts here say Putin might prefer Moldova as a pro-Moscow buffer state between an expanded Russia and NATO. Of course, Russian troops have since become bogged down in Ukraine and seem much less of a threat at the moment to neighboring countries. Moldovans are breathing more easily these days. But the war next door emphasizes

the country's precarious position. Moldova's maintained a policy of neutrality to protect itself and not antagonize Russia. But Igor Grosu, Speaker of Moldova's Parliament, says that policy isn't enough. And his country now needs security guarantees from big nations. I think the notion of neutrality in connection to guarantees will be dramatically changed. Does neutrality work? I'm saying that in the form that it's been practiced until now, it does not function. And therefore, the new system of guarantees that the great powers must create a consolidated system,

because otherwise, in the current form, it's very vulnerable. Grosu didn't go into detail, but Julian Groza did. Groza runs the Institute for European Policies and Reforms, a think tank. He thinks the best way to protect Moldova is to develop an even closer relationship with Europe. There are a lot of things that both EU member states or NATO member states can do to help us. Does that mean sending you weapons? Not only weapons, it's about all chain of everything which is linked to defense capabilities. I mean, medical infrastructure, training, equipment, everything. Professionalizing our army. An army with about 6,000 troops and not a single tank. But Moldova may be too small to survive on its own.

Yuri Renitsa is a former Moldovan ambassador to NATO. His solution? Reunify with neighboring Romania, which is a member of the EU and NATO. We do have very same language, culture, everything. There are no differences. This might be, from my point of view, the best choice. You are joining immediately EU. and the most important, NATO.

You're under NATO umbrella. Moldova used to be a part of Romania. That ended in 1940 when Moldova was occupied by Russia. But reunification faces big hurdles. Only 44% of Moldovans support it, according to a recent poll. And Russia would certainly object if Moldova tried to reunify with Romania, a NATO ally. A third option for Moldova, continue to stay neutral and try not to provoke Russia. Jan Kiku recently served as Moldova's prime minister.

I don't think that we need to buy more weapons to fight Russia. That's clear. And also, many of Moldovans consider that some countries and the neighbors of Russia became somehow interesting for NATO. This is the reason why Russia at least formally launched this war. And Kikus says it's naive to think other nations will come to the aid of a small country like Moldova. And what he says is essentially a major contest between Russia and the United States. Let's put it bluntly, nobody will protect us. The biggest country in Europe, and by the way, the richest one considering its natural resources, Ukraine, I mean, became a battlefield between the large geopolitical powers.

That's the reality. It is exactly what happens back in, let's say, in Korea, Vietnam, or Syria. Russia's leverage over Moldova goes beyond its troops in Transnistria. Moldova, which is landlocked, relies on Russia for 100% of its natural gas, which is something that many here, including the government, says has to change. Sirtu Tofalot is an energy analyst. We need to convince our society, which is very divided among pro-Russians and pro-Europeans, that relying on Russian gas, this is not normal. It's like funding the Russian army who kills Ukrainians

which fight for our independence. Tofalot says developing new energy suppliers won't be easy, given the high cost these days, which is especially hard for Europe's poorest nation. But he says it's a price Moldova must pay for its own security. That was NPR's Frank Langfitt reporting from Chisinau, Moldova must pay for its own security. That was NPR's Frank Langfitt reporting from Chisinau, Moldova. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Michelle Martin. Support for NPR and the following message come from the Kauffman Foundation,

providing access to opportunities that help people achieve financial stability, upward mobility, and economic prosperity, regardless of race, gender, or geography.