A meeting of Foreign Minister Vitaly Ignatiev with a delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross headed by Francois Muniz was held at the Foreign Ministry. The event was also attended by representatives of the Ministry of Social Protection and Labor and the Ministry of Health.
The meeting took place within the working visit of the ICRC delegation to study the humanitarian needs of Ukrainian refugees and residents of Pridnestrovie in the current regional situation.
“Pridnestrovie is wide open to cooperation in social, humanitarian and other vital issues. The developments in Ukraine, of course, have affected Pridnestrovie, Moldova, and other states,” the Foreign Minister stressed while opening the meeting.
Speaking about the situation with arriving refugees and their accommodation on the republic’s territory, Vitaly Ignatiev noted that since the end of February, over 27 thousand refugees have entered Pridnestrovie, of which 21.5 thousand have registered for permanent residence. Almost 1,500 people decided to stay at refugee centers, now there are more than 400 guests in temporary accommodation, of which about 150 are children.
Vitaly Ignatiev stressed that refugees coming to Pridnestrovie are attracted by the fact that Ukrainian is one of the official languages. This allows, for example, their children to continue studies in their native language.
During the meeting, the Pridnestrovian side marked that Pridnestrovie does not receive targeted support from international organizations to resolve issues with refugees and in this context is forced to manage on its own. At the same time, refugees receive all the necessary assistance in full free of charge, but blocking the imports of medicines to Pridnestrovie by Republic of Moldova threatens a serious shortage.
The Foreign Minister said that today the Moldovan side has blocked all Pridnestrovian pharmaceutical companies' shipments for administrative and bureaucratic reasons. In the future, this may significantly limit Pridnestrovie's ability to provide high-quality medical care both to the population of the republic and directly refugees.
In this context, Vitaly Ignatiev addressed the ICRC experts with a request to assist in arranging a "green corridor" to enable the import of medical products to Pridnestrovie until a sustainable framework for importing medicines is agreed upon with the Republic of Moldova. As the Foreign Minister said, that would be of the greatest assistance that can be provided to Pridnestrovie at this point.
Vitaly Ignatiev also highlighted the fact that Chisinau impedes not only medical supplies, but also cargoes with plant protection products, foodstuffs, and petroleum products. Such actions by Moldova are a serious destabilizing factor and significantly aggravate the humanitarian situation. Suffice it to note that the absence of a number of plant protection products compromises the sowing time and, as a result, the food security of Pridnestrovie.
The head of the ICRC mission, Francois Muniz, thanked for providing details on the current situation and noted that he understood the concern expressed by the Pridnestrovian side. The International Committee of the Red Cross will soon arrange an additional mission to examine the situation in greater depth and develop a program of targeted assistance, including for Pridnestrovian families hosting refugees.
Closing the meeting, the interlocutors expressed hope for the continued substantive dialogue, further exchange of information on the current situation and the speedy resolution of problematic issues.
