Annalena Baerbock pledges help to Moldova.
(Photo: IMAGO / photothek)
Chisinau Germany is working with international partners on an airlift for Ukrainian refugees from Moldova. Such an airlift is “absolutely sensible,” said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Saturday after meeting her Moldovan counterpart Nicu Popescu in Chisinau.
At the same time, she announced that the federal government would bring 2,500 Ukrainian refugees from Moldova directly to Germany as a first step. She agreed this with Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD).
Baerbock said that this would only be a start to support Moldova in taking in and distributing refugees with other countries inside and outside the European Union. For this purpose, a “green corridor” with buses through Romania is under construction. People should also be flown out of Moldova directly or via neighboring countries with larger airport capacities.
This could also happen across the Atlantic, said Baerbock – for example to the USA or Canada. “You have to be very pragmatic in this situation and not work out a one hundred percent perfect concept for three months.”
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The EU has provided emergency aid of five million euros for Moldova, and the federal government has provided an additional three million euros, said Baerbock. These funds would come in addition to the 37 million euros in economic aid for this year that the development ministry has already planned.
According to Popescu, Moldova had taken in a total of around 300,000 people from Ukraine, of whom more than 100,000 are still in the country. Most of them are privately housed.
Visit to a refugee camp
Baerbock said that as Ukraine’s smallest neighbor, Moldova also bears the greatest burden in terms of its economic power. It is all the more important that the people in Moldova do not see this as a burden, “but as what you do in times of need, namely to help your friends and neighbors”.
She announced that Germany would provide camp beds, cooking equipment, mattresses and heaters through the Moldova Technical Relief Agency to alleviate suffering in the freezing temperatures.
Baerbock then spoke to Moldova’s President Maia Sandu. After that, a visit to a refugee camp was planned. Finally, Baerbock wants to get an idea of the situation on the border with Ukraine.
In the former Soviet Republic of Moldova, there are fears that Russia could also invade there on a large scale. Russian soldiers are already stationed in the breakaway province of Transnistria. Irrespective of this, Foreign Minister Popescu ruled out his country’s application for NATO membership at the press conference with Baerbock, citing the constitution.
More: You can read the latest developments in our news blog.