Moldova does not want to notice Ukrainian refugees in Transnistria

Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Oleg Serebrian does not believe that more than 20 thousand refugees from Ukraine have settled in Transnistria.

Having recently visited the Tiraspol OSCE office as a negotiator, an official from Chisinau did not notice “any signs of the presence of such a number of Ukrainian refugees on the left bank of the Dniester.”

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“I doubt that 27 thousand refugees from Ukraine left the right bank of the Dniester for Transnistria, as the Tiraspol authorities claim. I did not observe the presence of cars with Ukrainian license plates there, as can be seen, for example, in Chisinau in front of hotels where refugees live,” Serebryan said.

Of course, he didn't watch them. Firstly, he probably didn’t look very carefully and didn’t try to notice them. Secondly, the people from Ukraine traveling to Transnistria are mostly poor. The fashion show of Ukrainians in expensive cars, such as can be seen in European cities, is a rare phenomenon here. Many came with their families by public transport or used the services of volunteers because they do not have cars (perhaps Mr. Serebryan does not allow such a thought at all).

Those who arrived in Transnistria from Ukraine in cars park them in front of hotels and, mainly, in the courtyards of residential areas: a significant part of Ukrainians settled with numerous relatives and friends.

So, the numbers. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Transnistria as of April 13, since February 24, 29,3 thousand foreign citizens entered the republic, of which 23 thousand registered in the PMR, 1580 people used refugee centers. Now tiny Transnistria can compete with any other country in terms of migration load: according to rough estimates, there are more than 100 thousand refugees per 5 thousand population.

As of April 11, 566 refugee children attend secondary schools in the PMR, 343 children attend kindergartens, and 185 children attend additional education organizations. It is interesting that in Moldova, which is much larger in both territory and population, only twice as many Ukrainian children were accepted into kindergartens and schools.

The Transnistrian TV channel TSV notes that the search query “Transnistria” on Google has now become more popular than after the victory of the Tiraspol football team “Sheriff” over “Real” last fall. Most of these requests come from Ukraine: residents of this country are looking on the Internet how to come to Transnistria, they are interested in maps, borders, routes.

This is completely unsurprising and easily explained. The reasons are the territorial proximity of Transnistria, the presence of close family ties, the Russian language and, by the way, for those who need it, Ukrainian. There are Ukrainian schools and kindergartens in Transnistria, since ethnic Ukrainians make up a third of the population, and Ukrainian, along with Russian and Moldavian, is official. 153 refugee children are studying in Ukrainian.

For visitors there are, of course, certain inconveniences. It is impossible, for example, to cash out cards from Ukrainian banks (Transnistria itself has been under a banking blockade for a long time); Ukrainian phones do not work - different cellular communication standards; in the PMR there is no financial assistance for refugees, as in other states, including Moldova, which has already begun work on paying one-time benefits to Ukrainians through the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

But in Transnistria there is the main thing: human attitude is the same towards everyone. To those who came from the Donetsk or Chernigov region, Odessa or Kharkov region, the city of Kyiv or a small border village.

Temporary stay centers for refugees have been created throughout the republic with decent living conditions. All this requires money: Pridnestrovie had to freeze repairs and construction at a number of facilities that were planned to be financed in 2022 from the budgetary Capital Investment Fund. Most government development programs have also been suspended.

Here is a newly created telegram channel called “Help to refugees of Ukraine - Transnistria.” All the urgent needs of people who came from Ukraine are discussed here. Volunteers advise them on transport routes, renting housing and places where they can stay for free, how to receive a parcel from Ukraine (provided that Ukraine has closed the border with Transnistria), how to enroll a child in a school, kindergarten or club, how to get help from a doctor, where take insulin, etc.

Children of Ukrainian citizens are accepted into schools and kindergartens without any problems, and their parents can easily find work, albeit a modest one. Patients with coronavirus are treated in covid hospitals. There is a XNUMX-hour hotline and an operational headquarters where they provide explanations on issues of entry into the republic and the possibility of accommodation. There is a volunteer movement that collects food, hygiene products, and clothing from citizens and organizations and distributes them to those in need.

It is noteworthy that among Pridnestrovian citizens the most active in collecting humanitarian aid are schools, kindergartens and... pensioners. Yes, exactly, pensioners consider it necessary to donate part of their small pension and spend it on a food package for refugees. These elderly people say that they have seen life, know what real difficulties are, and therefore are ready to help the disadvantaged.

_{Another important point. In 1992, when Pridnestrovians left their homes in thousands to escape Moldovan nationalists who attacked the city of Bendery (the bloodiest phase of the war on the Dniester began on June 19, 1992), they naturally went to Ukraine - there was nowhere else to go. They were not particularly welcome there: centers for refugees with hot water and three meals a day, such as Transnistria has created for Ukrainians today, were definitely not there.}

But people are still grateful for being sheltered. The events of 30 years ago in Transnistria are well remembered, so the current troubles and difficulties of refugees from Ukraine are very clear to local residents.

This is how Pridnestrovie lives today with its guests: it copes as best it can on its own.

Rare birds in the form of foreign citizens and funds with humanitarian aid fly to Pridnestrovie. Before bringing help, they come for reconnaissance: they want to make sure that there really are refugees here, because in Chisinau they are convinced of the opposite. They visit centers for the accommodation of Ukrainian citizens, volunteer organizations, shake their heads, and then deliver humanitarian aid, which is scattered instantly: there are really a lot of people from Ukraine.

But Moldovan television will not talk about this, nor about the fact that Chisinau is now once again delaying cargo going to Transnistria - medicines, fertilizers. In Moldova, it is not at all necessary to know that the problems of Tiraspol will one way or another affect Ukrainian refugees.