Bulgaria has offered to help Moldova with the influx of Ukrainian refugees entering the country as over 250,000 Ukrainians have entered Moldova since Russia’s attack on Ukraine on 24 February.
About 160,000 of them have already left Moldova, but many arrivals have overloaded the country’s social system.
“Bulgaria can help Moldova in the refugee crisis,” Bulgarian Foreign Minister Teodora Genchovska said after meeting with her Moldovan counterpart Nicolae Popescu in Chisinau on Tuesday (8 March). Genchovska suggested that Bulgaria, Romania, and Moldova set up joint checkpoints on the Moldovan-Romanian border.
The teams of officials from the three countries should make it easier to direct the flow of refugees to Romania and Bulgaria. Popescu has stressed the need for additional buses to ensure the movement of refugees from the war towards Bulgaria. The proposal is expected to be discussed at the Bulgarian Council of Ministers on Wednesday.
Bulgaria is supporting EU accession for Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, Genchovska added.
Meanwhile, several dozen Russians living in Bulgaria staged a protest against the war in Ukraine in front of the Russian Cultural Information centre in Sofia.
Most wore posters decorated with the colours of the Ukrainian flag. They had written in English and Russian: “I am Russian and I am against Putin. Don’t be indifferent! ”“ I am from Russia. I am against Putin. I am against the war. I love Ukraine “,” Not at war “.