Russians start applying for Moldovan citizenship en masse - Reuters

Natives of Russia have recently begun to apply for Moldovan citizenship more actively. The trend is attributed to Russia's full-scale war against neighboring Ukraine.

On January 15, Chisinau authorities announced this, noting that it was difficult to cope with the sharp increase in the number of applications. Therefore, they decided to extend the period for processing applications, which was previously 20 days, Reuters reports.

Given the sharp increase in requests for Moldovan citizenship, the relevant agency has asked the government to extend the processing time for applications to six months.

"The geopolitical situation in the region, created by Russia's war against Ukraine, has led to an increase in the number of people wishing to obtain Moldovan citizenship," the statement said.

According to the agency, 70% of the applicants were Russian citizens, and 20% were Ukrainian citizens. At the same time, they did not provide specific figures on the number of people wishing to obtain Moldovan citizenship, which is one of the poorest countries in Europe.

Reuters reminded that the country's pro-European government has condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, during which the debris of missiles fired by Russia at Ukraine often landed on its territory.

Before gaining independence, Moldova was part of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, or Romania for approximately 150 years.

The country's Soviet-era population of 4.3 million has now fallen to about 2.5 million, with the exception of unrecognized Transnistria, which is run by pro-Russian separatists.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, the Institute for the Study of War predicted that Russia could organize a false flag operation in Transnistria to destabilize the situation in Moldova. In particular, various figures in the unrecognized republic are instructed by the Kremlin to create information conditions for provocations to "protect" ethnic Russians and Russian speakers.

Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!