Russian troops make little progress
Moldovans visit Capital Region
Thousands of miles away, as Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine that has so far claimed more than 3,000 civilian lives, another country is bearing a disproportionate burden of the invasion: Moldova.
A small country with a population of just 2.6 million, Moldova is a former Soviet republic sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania. Its location, size and divided politics have made it particularly vulnerable as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues. This week, members of Moldova’s Parliament are visiting the
Capital Region in search of solutions and support.
Brought to the region through a collaboration between the International Center of the Capital Region and the Open World Exchange program, which introduces rising leaders in former Soviet republics to paths to democracies, the parliamentary members met Monday in U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko’s Albany office.
“Moldova is living right now in different challenging times,” said Lidia Sanduleac, facilitator of the group of parliamentary members. “Despite the crisis that we have right now in the region, we also have the economical crisis. So it’s really put us in a very tense and very uncertain time.”
The country is tied to Russian electricity and gas grids. News outlets have reported that it has a 22 percent annual inflation, its economic growth has crashed to 0.3 percent and its exports and remittances (money that comes into the country) have been disrupted. Moldova’s economic state is so fragile that the International Monetary Fund is urging other nations to offer it grants and loans.
But the parliamentary members Monday also discussed with Tonko their hopes to move away from dependence on fossil fuels, and by extension Russia, and develop a clean energy agenda.
“The investors are there, but they need guidance on how best to transition to this clean energy economy,” Tonko said.
There are also concerns about the internal political ramifications of the invasion, as a significant portion of Moldova’s population is prorussia and exposed to Russian propaganda, including the breakaway region of Transnistria.
“The country is divided on political and power points of view,” Sanduleac said. “Moldova is not facing right now direct threats ... but Transnistria is getting a lot of indirect threats.”
What is now Moldova was a principality that was transferred from the Ottoman to the Russian empire in the 19th century, and continued to endure uncertainty until dissolution of the Soviet Union. In 1990, it held its first parliamentary elections, but tensions with Transnistria have continued.
In addition to the current economic crisis, Moldova has been absorbing Ukrainian refugees — about 100,000 right now. The strain is significant on the small country. The government only has the capacity to support 20,000 refugees, parliamentary members said, so Moldovan citizens have been hosting the other 80,000 refugees in their homes.
Aurica Jardan, adviser to the president of the parliament, said the refugees have been sharing stories with their hosts about their horrendous experiences in the war.
“It’s very difficult, but we help them and we hope they will resist, and we will resist also,” she said.
While the country is housing refugees, half a million refugees have gone through Moldova to reach other destinations. And while it used to be known as one of the poorest European countries, parliamentary members said, now Moldova is known as, “small country, big heart.”