The expert told why Ukrainian refugees choose Moldova

Alexander Makukhin, Doctor of Political Science, migration specialist and managing administrator of the dopomoga.gov.md project, which was created specifically to help Ukrainians, told Social Portal about this.

Ukrainian migration to Poland is a well-known story. And Moldova practically did not face migration. Before the start of the war, we had about 100 requests for asylum per year: mostly people from Syria, Afghanistan or some African countries. It was completely different from what is happening now. Also, earlier the main applicants for some status, most often a residence permit, were spouses. Citizenship was accepted even less per year - about 50-60 people, - says Alexander.

According to him, there are several reasons why Ukrainians choose Moldova:

• No language barrier. Although the official language in the state is Moldovan, almost everyone understands Russian. Also, price tags in stores are duplicated in Russian, there are Russian-speaking schools.

• Prices comparable to Ukrainian ones. Food and renting an apartment will cost no more than in Ukraine, and travel by transport will be cheaper. Although with the arrival of a large number of refugees, prices have risen here as well.

• Affordable housing. Until February 24, a one-room apartment in Chisinau cost from 150 euros, now this figure can be safely multiplied by two. But it's still cheaper than in EU countries. There, on average, prices start at 600 euros.

Most of all in Chisinau you can find cars with Odessa and Nikolaev numbers.

Odessa and Chisinau are very connected. Probably, there is no Chisinau resident who has never traveled to Odessa. There were also many commercial connections. Odessans and residents of Nikolaev are the closest to go to the border with Moldova. Only those who had relatives here came to us from Lvov,” says Oleksandr.