Moldova

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Dear President Maia Sandu, dear Secretary of State of the United States of America Antony Blinken, we start off the briefing ...

This is indeed a challenge, and this is exactly the reason why we have requested the international assistance in the shape of financial assistance that’s all to compensate all the expenditures that we suffer in order to be able to help out those people. This is the will of the Moldovan people, and we welcome the pursuit of closer ties and greater integration. There is a major effort underway involving countries around the world to support refugees arriving from the Ukraine, but first and foremost, the burden has been on neighboring countries like the Republic of Moldova, like Poland and others that are the immediate responders. Our partnership addresses the key challenges of our time, the things that we should be working on and focused on, which is exactly another reason why this war of choice is such a terrible thing – it takes us away from things that we need to be working on together. QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Radu Osipov, public TV Moldova. I have a question for both Ms. Maia Sandu and Antony Blinken. Figures prove that in the first 10 days of the war, Moldova received the biggest amount of refugees from Ukraine. It’s again by comparison with the population of the Republic of Moldova. It’s a huge effort for our country. The United States delivered hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 vaccines to Moldova and millions of dollars in pandemic-related assistance. We want to continue the political dialogue, the security dialogue between our states; we want to develop projects which are directed towards the development of the energy resilience of our country; as well as to advance on the dialogue for justice and to collaborate in the field of the asset recovery. The United States wants to make clear our strong support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, including the Republic of Moldova. We do need urgently assistance for the temporary accommodation of those people in order to offer them the most necessary items and also to be capable to redirect the inflow of refugees towards the European countries which have a high capacity to receive them. In the 30 years since Moldova and the United States began diplomatic relations, we’ve never faced a moment as urgent and as challenging as the one that we face today. Dear Secretary of State, the Republic of Moldova does need assistance and immediate and significant contribution of the international community so that our people and our economy can cope with these challenges and the inflow of refugees. We firmly condemned the military aggression against Ukraine and we called to peace from the very first hour of the military actions.

Fears are mounting for Ukrainian civilians trapped in the cities of Mariupol, Volnovakha and Kyiv as the Russian onslaught of besieged cities continues. Ukraine ...

Gavrilita also added that the country was continuing its pursuit of EU membership, saying: "we have submitted our application on the third of March" According to Gavrilita, more than 230,000 people have crossed over the Moldovan border from Ukraine, with 120,000 staying in the country. Gavrilita made the remarks in a news conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the Moldovan capital of Chisinau. Secretary Blinken is traveling in the country to meet with government officials during the refugee crisis stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

PRIME MINISTER GAVRILITA: Dear Secretary of State Blinken, welcome to Chisinau. I'm sure we would have all loved to have met under different circumstances and ...

And it’s especially wonderful to be back because your story is such a powerful one and positive one at a time that we need powerful and positive stories. We believe that this is an agenda to transform Moldova into a modern, prosperous European state based on the fundamental values of human rights and the rule of law. This war will also not only cost us in terms of the humanitarian cost, but economically, trade with Ukraine has been a very important element of our economy and we see disruptions of transportation routes and we see a global impact economically of this war. We stand united with the people of Ukraine and our call is for restoration of peace as soon as possible, first and foremost through diplomatic efforts. But we will need assistance to deal with this influx, and we need this quickly and through flexible instruments. PRIME MINISTER GAVRILITA: Dear Secretary of State Blinken, welcome to Chisinau. I’m sure we would have all loved to have met under different circumstances and for your visit to have occurred on a more positive occasion.

Moldovans fear that Transnistria, a region run by Russia-backed separatists in eastern Moldova, might be the next target after Ukraine.

Regardless of what happens in Ukraine, Russia might still seek to preserve the status quo in Transnistria, a Moldovan official said. At the school in Mr. Nikitenko’s village, about a third of the students are from an adjacent Transnistrian municipality. Any reports of Transnistrian aggression were a “shameless lie,” Mr. Krasnoselsky said in a statement Sunday afternoon. “The Eurasian continent is being reshaped,” Mr. Shirokov said. “They just want to live in peace.” At a local level, Moldovan and Transnistrian communities are often interdependent, and Transnistrians often use banks and medical centers in Moldovan-controlled towns. As recently as Sunday morning, Moldovan officials and foreign diplomats said there was no evidence the Transnistrian leadership was seeking to involve itself in the fighting. Transnistria “does not pose a military threat, does not hatch plans of an aggressive nature,” he added. In an interview, the Moldovan prime minister, Natalia Gavrilita, said her government faced more pressing challenges — such as the sudden influx of more than 230,000 refugees. A poor country of 2.6 million squeezed between Ukraine and Romania, Moldova is perhaps the most vulnerable. “Or will it be a flexible border?” He fiddled with a pen, removing and replacing its lid, staring at the screen as it showed the Russian advance toward Odessa, the nearest big city on the Ukrainian side.

Moldova's Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita has called on the United States to increase its humanitarian assistance to the country, as the number of refugees ...

And indeed we want to do everything we can to help you deal with the burden this is imposing.” “But we will need assistance to deal with this influx, and we need this quickly.” “As of this morning, we had more than 230,000 people who have crossed the border from Ukraine, and 120,000 stayed in Moldova – 96,000 of them are Ukrainian citizens.

AMBASSADOR LOGSDON: All right. So, Secretary Blinken, welcome back to Chisinau. We're glad to have you here. You all know the Secretary has had multiple ...

But seriously, I really can’t thank each of you and each of your other colleagues who’ve been with us so long – I can’t find the words to express how much that means. I have to tell you – and I suspect many of you feel the same way – it’s inspiring to see the work that our friends here are doing. And I took note of some of the things that people have been doing, and again, they may seem small, but they have a big impact: providing groceries, providing child care when someone got sick as a result of COVID, keeping in touch through WhatsApp, finding some ways even in the midst of this to have fun, virtual wine tastings – I’m not quite sure how that works. And then, as Kent said, I know that the last two years have been difficult – more than difficult – because of COVID, and you’ve experienced loss. We have the lifeblood of this and any embassy, our locally employed staff, opening their homes to refugees from Ukraine. All of that is extraordinary even as it may seem ordinary to you because it’s just what you do. But all of that equally applies here to the Republic of Moldova, and just as we’re standing strongly for Ukraine, for its territorial integrity, its independence, its sovereignty, so too do we stand with Moldova and any other country that may be threatened in the same way. At a time in the world when over the last decade or 15 years we’ve seen in many places democratic backsliding, in country after country – we’ve had our own challenges – here in Moldova, we see a country with extraordinary leaders trying to move forward, to strengthen their democracy, to build it, and in so doing, of course, benefit the people of Moldova, but also set an example for the world. And to everyone here in the room, our family members and other colleagues who are there with us virtually, it is great to be back. I’ll come back to that in a minute too, but this has been in so many ways a challenging time for missions around the world and certainly here as well. The main reason, and I’ll come to that, is simply to say thank you, thank you to each and every one of you for the remarkable service that you’re performing for our country and for this relationship between the United States and the Republic of Moldova. Kent, it seems like a month ago – and it was – that we were sending you off, and things were a little bit different then, so I guess timing in life is everything. It’s a historic moment, historic opportunity, and we’re really glad to have the Secretary here to celebrate it with us. You all know the Secretary has had multiple positions at the Department of State, and we’re glad to have him back this time at the helm of the Department of State. It’s very great.