Russia’s war against Ukraine is not perceived uniformly in Moldova. There are ethnic, age, linguistic groups that at least consent to the invasion marked by fascist symbols. But there are also party leaders who disobey the law and promote the expansionist interests of a foreign state , while the constitutional authorities are unable to ensure cohesion, national solidarity before the existential danger to the country, asylum procedure protection officer Ion Bambuleac, of the Lawyers’ Law Center, stated in IPN’s public debate “Ukrainian refugees: 75 days of peaceful coexistence in Moldova during war in their homeland”.
“Europe Day was celebrated yesterday. For the refugees, it is hard to image the earlier festivities held to commemorate the victory when their country is in a war. I think they celebrated the future peace that is to be established in their country,” said the expert.
He noted that the paradoxes typical of a refugee crisis are most evidently manifested in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova. The separatist authorities are not incorporated into the global refugee assistance system, but the flow of refugees didn’t bypass the left side of the Nistru. There are even statistics to this effect. “Not only citizens with patriotic views fled from shelling and occupation, but also persons with Russian passports and of other nationalities. We can imagine that a particular category of persons are under the shield of Tiraspol that is protected by Russia. But there are differences in the perception of the war of persons who found refuge on the territory controlled by Chisinau. Everyone has the right to protection. We can speak about their perceptions and attitudes to what is going on in Ukraine after the necessary assistance is provided to them”.
Asked by the moderator about Ukrainians’ reactions to different invectives on the part of Putin’s supporters with which they can meet on the street, Ion Bambuleac said there are differences between the Ukrainians who arrived only recently and those who came earlier or who even settled in Moldova long ago.
He supported the idea that some of the representatives of ethnic groups of Moldova in time manifested themselves as supporters of pro-Russian parties and of the Kremlin leader. “I think this is a problem not only of the Ukrainian community. The division inside the refugees and inside Moldovan society that is multiethnic comes from the informative, cognitive component that represents the daily background of the people and also from the nostalgia for the past, which the people try to maintain and to perpetuate.”
In such conditions, “it is Moldova’s duty to strengthen society so that the civic spirit is based on common values that would ensure the harmonious coexistence of all its components: we are the Republic of Moldova with its own interests detached from the interests of a political leader or regime,” stated the expert.
The public debate titled “Ukrainian refugees: 75 days of peaceful coexistence in Moldova during war in their homeland” was the 243rd installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
