Moldova - East or West?

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 18 August 2022

⏱️ 26 minutes

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Summary

Sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, the former Soviet Republic of Moldova has recently been awarded EU candidate status. In an echo of what happened in Ukraine, Moldova lost a chunk of its eastern territory to separatists in a short war 30 years ago. The separatists were backed by elements of the Russian army. Since then Transnistria has remained a post-Soviet “frozen conflict.” In recent months almost 500,000 Ukrainian refugees have crossed into Moldova – the highest per capita influx to a neighbouring country. Up to 90,000 have remained in Moldova, one of Europe’s poorest countries. The republic’s president has warned that President Putin has his sights set on her country. Tessa Dunlop travels to Moldova to hear what Moldovans think about the war in Ukraine and their country’s future. Produced by John Murphy (Image: A Russian armoured vehicle at the border crossing with the breakaway enclave of Transnistria in the village of Firladeni, Republic of Moldova. Credit: BBC/John Murphy)

Transcript

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0:00.0	On the one hand it's a really typical Moldovan scene you can hear the wildlife, there's
0:08.0	old women with headscarves, just a tractor, a man with a bicycle cycle past, but then you
0:14.2	look down the road and right in front of you 100 meters away is a border with Russian
0:20.0	soldiers, with a Russian armoured vehicle, with a Russian flag on it and yet when you come
0:24.6	through the Moldovan side of the village every third or fourth house has a Moldovan flag.
0:30.8	Hello, I'm Tessa Dunlop on assignment for the BBC World Service from the Republic
0:36.6	of Moldova, a country which emerged from the disintegration of the Soviet Union three
0:42.0	decades ago. We're in the village of Farle den on the border of the breakaway region
0:48.1	Transnistria. Thirty years ago Transnistrian separatists fought a short bloody conflict
1:01.2	against forces loyal to the newly independent Moldova. They were supported by the Russian
1:06.7	army. Ever since the ceasefire in July 1992 Transnistria has been branded a post-Soviet
1:14.6	frozen conflict zone. It has its own currency, military and government.
1:21.6	It's very near isn't it? I mean it's right in your face this Russian problem.
1:29.6	It's not a problem.
1:32.6	Yes, it's not a problem.
1:37.6	Youngangan is the former mayor of Farle den. The nearest large town is Bender inside Transnistria.
1:44.6	He said, yeah, this is what it's like. You know, you go to Bender, you come back, whether
1:50.0	people are going to work in Bender or whether they're going to the market there, they've
1:53.5	got to show their documents.
1:56.5	It's like a border between another country. It's like a foreign country.
2:06.6	It's an artificial foreign country. Of course we know each other.
2:13.6	Yes, this is Moldova, but it's actually occupied by the Russians.
	...

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