New consignment of Russian humanitarian aid arrives in Gagauzia

A new shipment of humanitarian aid donated by the Russian Federation to Moldova’s Gagauz autonomy reached its destination on Thursday, March 27. The consignment consists of five tonnes of canned meat, 24 tonnes of rice and 30 tonnes of hulled buckwheat. The aid is to be distributed to educational establishments in the autonomy, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to a release issued by the press service of Gagauzia’s Governor, the donated food is destined for the children in kindergartens and schools. The distribution of the humanitarian aid will be monitored by the Russian service for exceptional situations, the Russian diplomatic corps in Moldova and the Moldovan Agency for Material Reserve and Humanitarian Aid. The authorities in the autonomy have sent a letter of gratitude to the Russian Embassy for the offered assistance. The Russian aid for Gagauzia, donated in response to the appeal for help made by the Moldovan authorities following last summer’s drought, was an object of controversies in Chisinau earlier this month after the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that the Moldovan authorities had revoked the agreement on the shipment of the goods, proposing to suspend its operation until a future date. The local analysts ascribed the decision to the strained relationship between Governor Formuzal and President Voronin. The Moldovan government, in turn, described the situation as a “misunderstanding”. At the same time, a number of nongovernmental organizations backed the idea of suspending the shipment until the end of the elections for the Gagauz People’s Assembly (the autonomy’s legislature), with the first round of the polls taking place on March 16, claiming that the humanitarian aid would unfairly favor the candidates supported by the Governor. A part of the consignment, however, reached the autonomy on March 7, apparently with the help of President Voronin. The aid donated to Gagauzia is valued at 88 million rubles (about $3.5m), the Russian Embassy in Chisinau said.