Moldova Expects Refugees, Declares State of Emergency

A refugee center in Manej Athletics Center in Chisinau, Moldova (Wikimedia Commons)

Anticipating a large influx of refugees, Moldova declared a state of emergency on February 25 in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The 60-day state of emergency included measures on entering and exiting the country, putting government institutions on high alert, and closing Moldovan airspace.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu expressed her country’s willingness to accept tens of thousands of refugees, adding that the government is still deciding on what actions to take if the number of refugees is higher than expected. The UN’s Refugee Agency reported that a total of 368,000 refugees have arrived in Ukraine’s neighboring countries. Moldova has already welcomed more than 26,000 refugees.

All refugee welcome centers remain open with additional staff to process the refugee flow, and Moldova has temporarily suspended its immigration process for all refugees seeking safe haven.

Refugees are mostly women and children, as Ukraine has prohibited all men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country, requiring them instead to stay and fight.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine also raises questions on its aims in Moldova. Like Ukraine, Moldova is a former Soviet, non-NATO state but does have friendly relations with the EU and the United States. Moldova is far smaller than Ukraine and is one of only a few Eastern European countries that are neither a part of NATO nor under the Russian sphere of influence.

The EU and NATO have doubled down on their support for Moldova’s pro-Western government as Russian expansionism grows more aggressive. Following an emergency NATO summit, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said, “The Kremlin is trying to make NATO and the EU provide less support to our partners. So our collective answer must be more support to countries like Georgia, Moldova, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

Moldova also faces potential issues with Transnistria, a Russian-backed breakaway state.  Russia has supported breakaway states in Moldova, Ukraine, and Georgia as pretext for military operations in those countries.  The Russian invasion of Ukraine was justified in part on the defense of Ukraine’s semi-autonomous breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, where part of the invasion was launched from.