Romania will receive lots of African and Asians fleeing the Russian invasion in Ukraine, and Romanian authorities keep their nationality secret.
“Romania has decided to extend temporary protection to family members and close relatives of stateless persons and foreigners from Ukraine, who can come and live in our country. Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, 4,353 citizens from Ukraine have obtained asylum in Romania and 33,865 residence permits. The data communicated by the General Inspectorate for Immigration deliberately omits to mention the nationality of the citizens coming from Ukraine. If the General Inspectorate for Immigration were to publish the official data on the nationality of the beneficiaries of temporary protection that are coming from Ukraine, we would learn in amazement that Romania has been filled with Africans and Asians. Although at the beginning, as requested by the European Union, only stateless persons and foreigners who were in Ukraine on February 24 were accepted, later a decision was made to also accept those who were there before this date. But things have gone to another level now. Romania will also receive family members of stateless persons and foreigners from Ukraine, as well as their close relatives”.
NARRATIVES: 1. Romania will be invaded by foreigners, in particular refugees from Africa and Asia coming through Ukraine; 2. Romania is much too tolerant a country, and its authorities are hiding the issues that might be caused by immigrants.
CONTEXT/LOCAL ETHOS: The intensification of fighting in Ukraine has been creating constant waves of refugees fleeing Ukraine since Russia's invasion.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine on February 24, more than six million refugees have crossed the borders of Ukraine’s neighboring countries. Over a million Ukrainians have passed through Romania and a little over 42,000 Ukrainian refugees have remained in our country.
By attacking civilian targets in Ukraine, Russia pursues two goals. The first is to spread fear among civilians and to increase pressure on the Ukrainian authorities, and the second is to generate new waves of refugees in the hope of socio-economic destabilization in the EU, but in particular in neighboring states close to Ukraine.
According to the latest data released by UNCHR, last month the EU hosted 3.3 million refugees from Ukraine.
PURPOSE: To trigger, in Romanian society, xenophobic and racist attitudes towards the nationality, ethnicity or race of the refugees.
WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: Romania is not among the final destinations sought by Ukrainian refugees. In fact, the small number of around 42,000 refugees who are currently in Romania attests to this. Comparatively, in the Republic of Moldova alone, a considerably smaller state and with much more limited possibilities, there are currently over 70,000 Ukrainian refugees.
According to statistical data from the Interior Ministry, provided relatively recently to Free Europe, less than 10% of the Ukrainian refugees were neither citizens of Ukraine nor of any EU country. So, we are mostly talking about students from other countries around the world who were studying in Ukraine before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
So, if we keep the share of about 10% of the 42,000 refugees that are now in Romania, we would not have more than about 4,000 people who do not have Ukrainian citizenship and who also took refuge in Romania. In conclusion, we cannot speak of an “invasion” in Romania and we do not even know if they are African or Asian, as stated in the title of the article on the național.ro portal.
Moreover, the narrative about immigrants who are by default seen as criminals who only cause trouble in their host countries is often used by the Russian propaganda. In fact, such narratives are also based on Romania’s low tolerance with regard to receiving immigrants from Ukraine, although the population, NGOs and the authorities have mobilized and received them extremely well since the beginning of the war.
Moreover, with Russia blocking Ukraine's grain shipments by sea, Moscow is deliberately acting to starve the African countries, the main beneficiaries of Ukraine's grain. One of Russia’s goals is precisely to create new waves of African immigrants to Europe, as they had visibly diminished after the active phase of the war in Syria.
Russia and Belarus also keep putting pressure on the EU by providing corridors for immigrants from all over the world to cross into Poland and thus pressure the country even more. Meanwhile, Poland has built a wall on the border with Belarus to stop this deliberate practice by Moscow and Minsk.
As regards Romania, an EU member state, the authorities in Bucharest must implement Directive 2001/55/EC which specifies that the EU member states can offer temporary protection to “ third-country nationals or stateless persons legally residing in Ukraine who are displaced as of 24 February 2022 following the military invasion by Russian armed forces on that date and who are unable to return to their country or region of origin in safe and durable conditions because of the situation prevailing in that country”.
“All people fleeing Ukraine, regardless of the category they belong to, are welcomed in the EU before their return to their place of origin”, the European Council explains on its official website, thus clarifying the rights and obligations of all refugees from Ukraine in the EU member states.GRAIN OF TRUTH: Romania receives on its territory refugees from Ukraine, who do not have Ukrainian citizenship.
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