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INTERVIEW/Romania's Consul General in Chernivtsi: Ukrainians are impressed by what the Romanian people have done

Inquam Photos / Casian Mitu
Inquam refugiati ucraina

The Consulate General of Romania in Chernivtsi is currently active 24/7 given the circumstances in Ukraine since February 24, with the diplomatic mission trying to deal with both requests from Romanians, as well as from Ukrainian authorities and the refugees from this country, Romania's Consul General in Chernivtsi Irina-Loredana Stanculescu told AGERPRES in a recent interview.

There have been no bombings in the area so far, but if that happens, the mission will have to withdraw, the diplomat said.

"Romania has had a fabulous response, and the Ukrainians are very impressed with what Romania has done and how it has been able to respond to all the problems facing Ukraine. People have a special respect for us; we have received a lot of appreciation for staying in the region," said Stanculescu.

AGERPRES: Madam Consul General, how is the Consulate General of Romania in Chernivtsi operating now?

Irina-Loredana Stanculescu: The Consulate General of Romania in Chernivtsi is operating 24/7, given the circumstances in Ukraine. Our entire diplomatic mission is on duty. We are trying to deal with all the requests filed with us by the Romanians, by the Ukrainian authorities, because, at the moment, we are not only facing the problems of the Romanian community and the Romanian ethnics, but we are facing a major change in all of Ukraine's authorities. Here, in the region, and also all around Ukraine, the regional state administration has been transformed into a military command, meaning it is in fact called the Military Administration of the Chernivtsi region. This is how all regional administrations have been turned into, and they have supreme power over regional decisions.

The City Hall, the Regional Council, the District Council no longer have powers, because they were taken over by the Military Administration. We are trying to co-operate with this military administration, we are collaborating very well, we are keeping in close contact, just to solve all the problems that the region is facing, especially since this is the largest Romanian border community in Ukraine. We have a lot of ethnic Romanians who call the consulate; they are scared, they are trying to move to Romania, many of them did not have personal identification documents and we are trying to cope. We have had a lot of meetings with the Military Administration, we solved border problems. Even today [Thursday] I was personally up to the border and the queue of cars, the line of cars is four kilometers long, people do not walk. Yesterday I had a discussion with Mr Osachuk [Serhiy Osachuk, head of the Chernivtsi State Military Administration] and I asked him to get refugees from the villages in the region and from the Romanian villages organised. There are many refugees coming from the areas affected by the bombing and a large part of them are housed in the Romanian community. They are asking how to deal with them. I told them to keep them in place, because the military administration will send minibuses or the town halls there will send minibuses for people to be transported, because people are sick when they arrive in Romania and make it difficult for the Romanian authorities to deal with the wave of problems facing them there.

At this moment, the queue is four kilometers long; people are no longer in line and they are walking. They are already coming organised by minibuses, they are taken over immediately by Suceava. Mr. Flutur [chairman of the Suceava County Council, Gheorghe Flutur] was very involved there. There is a place where people are taken over, and children, mothers are given first aid. The director general of the Red Cross is also there, and so are the prefect and the Romanian Police. Everyone is gathered and trying to find the best possible solutions to what we are sending from Ukraine. Our diplomatic mission is not limited to the Romanian community, because we cannot. We must, in general, take into account all the demands that come our way and try to meet them and, first of all, try to be human and help everyone.

AGERPRES: After the onset of the war, the Embassy in Kyiv closed down, so you are the most important diplomatic mission left in Ukraine. Have you had any special issues regarding Romanian citizens?

Irina-Loredana Stanculescu: Every day there are special issues, as they are trapped in hardly accessible areas. We have also had problems with freight transport trucks that could not go through. We have had all sorts of problems. We have problems with very many sick people, we have requests from many people with cancer, who cannot leave this place. There are different kinds of problems. Indeed, Romania's Embassy had its activity suspended, the diplomatic mission there was withdrawn, as it was bound to happen. You have seen the bombings taking place there... We have stayed as Consulate General, believing that Bukovina is blessed by God and it seems things are calmer here. There haven't been any bombings here and I hope there will not be any, as we are very close to the border with Romania and I believe this would affect entire Europe, if they bombed this area, it would be very close to us.

AGERPRES: There has been an unprecedented wave of refugees. Do you believe this wave will continue, grow in intensity or will it drop?

Irina-Loredana Stanculescu: I believe it will drop, although loaded trains from the affected areas are still coming, as we have seen in Chernivtsi. There had been talks of organising some passenger trains to carry people to Romania via railways. Anyhow, at the moment, there are no more lines, so they can go through to Romania. We have made a deal with the Ukrainian authorities not to process formalities on Ukrainian citizens. They can cross freely to Romania. The only problem is with men between 18 and 60. As martial law is in force, they normally have this problem: they must stay in Ukraine, arms in hands. Unfortunately, the Romanian ethnic community here is facing the same problems. Many of them don't have citizenship, or, even of they have Romanian citizenship, they are first and foremost citizens of the Ukrainian state, therefore they must defend their country. There is nothing we can do much for these men. Most of them have managed to cross into Romania, others haven't managed before this martial law came into force.

AGERPRES: How has Romania's reaction to the refugee wave been viewed?

Irina-Loredana Stanculescu: Romania has responded outstandingly. I am telling you I am meeting representatives of the authorities, even earlier there have been here representatives of the Police, the management of the Police in the region came to the Romanian Consulate, and, with tears in their eyes, they were saying that what was going on in Romania was unbelievable. The Romanian authorities responded extraordinarily, they are very impressed with what Romania has done and how it could respond to all the problems Ukraine is confronted with. People are impressed, they have a special respect for us, they have a special respect for the diplomatic mission. We have received many appreciations that we have remained in the region. I, the consul general, am a woman and maybe women could have reacted with more fear, so to speak, but they appreciate me very much and this is very important, that we have proved we resisted, that we are by their side. We are a channel for sending real information about what is happening here.

AGERPRES: There are syncopes in the social system functioning or the food supply for the population. Do you believe that there will be a food and medicine crisis in the area?

Irina-Loredana Stanculescu: I think there already is a crisis. At the meeting with Mr Serhiy Osachuk, commander of the Military Administration, he said that this region was faring well in terms of supply, but there are syncopes. We can notice there are very many petrol stations that don't have fuel. The stockpiles in stores are getting exhausted, I have already received signals from the community of Romanians that it is hard to care for the refugees who are in the homes of Romanians here in the region and I believe this crisis will deepen.

AGERPRES: Can we talk about a closure of this consulate as well, in case the war extends?

Irina-Loredana Stanculescu: Certainly. If this region is bombed, we'll have to withdraw, because I don't think people would go out on the streets anymore or that we could be able to help them with anything. We are not specialists and I believe our powers are limited as long as we are not able to do our job, Agerpres informs.

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