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The 32-year-old is among thousands of citizens of Albanian descent living in several villages and towns in Ukraine.
With some difficulty speaking Albanian, Alexander tells Radio Free Europe how he and his relatives see warnings of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.
According to him, the situation is worse in the media than it really is.
“Right now, there are not many problems and we are not afraid. “I do not know what will happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, but for today we do not have as many problems as the media show”, he says.
Alexander lives in the village of Karakurt, located in the southwestern part of the Odessa region of Ukraine and has a population of about 3,000.
He says this area is quieter than the others.
“We live in the south of Ukraine and there is no sense of war at all. On the other side of Ukraine is felt. “There are Russian or Ukrainian troops there.”
As early as 2014, a conflict between government forces and pro-Russian separatists continues in eastern Ukraine, which has so far claimed over 14,000 lives. That same year, Russia illegally annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
For weeks now, the Russian state has amassed more than 100,000 troops on its border with Ukraine and fears it is preparing for invasion.
Alexander’s former compatriot Maxim Kirchev now lives in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev.
The 39-year-old of Albanian origin says the situation is generally calm, but people are preparing for all the scenarios.
“We are trying to stay calm. People generally try not to panic. “There is a saying in Ukraine: ‘Keep calm and clean your weapon,'” Maximi told Radio Free Europe.
Growing up in a family of Albanian origin, the Albanian dialect is old, compared to the modern language spoken today.
About 5,000 citizens of Albanian descent are believed to live in Ukraine, say community representatives.
They are located mainly around the Odessa area.
Their ancestors are believed to have gone there about 200 years ago, to escape the Ottoman Empire’s wars in the Balkans.
Aleksandr Dermentli, president of the Association “Union of Albanians of Ukraine”, who also lives in Karakurt, says that the Albanian immigrants originate mainly from the Korça area in Albania.
“[Shqiptarët] have fled to an area of Macedonia [v.j. sot Maqedonia e Veriut] “and later in the areas of Romania and Bulgaria, and finally organized the village of Karakurt in Ukraine,” Dermentli told Radio Free Europe.
Residents there indicate that the Albanian language has begun to be taught as an elective subject in areas where Albanians live in Ukraine only in the last 4-5 years.
Maxim Kirchev says that the lack of this subject earlier has left him deficient in learning modern Albanian.
“We did not learn in schools, because none of the Albanians in Ukraine knew the modern Albanian language,” says Maximi, who works as the head of information technology at a company in Kiev.
According to him, Albanian in schools is now taught by people who have visited Albania and studied the Albanian language there, only to return later to Ukraine.
He says Albanian culture continues to be preserved – from food to weddings.
The father of two says that he wants to visit Albania, but the plans for this visit are currently postponed by the pandemic.
He says his children speak little Albanian.
“I go with my children for summer vacations to my parents [në Karakurt] and there they try to learn a few words [shqip]. “There are very few Albanians in Kiev and there is no Albanian school or cultural center”, says Maximi.
About 700 kilometers from Kiev, in the village of Karakurt, residents are worried about high unemployment, says Alexander Lekhov, who deals with welding himself.
“I will try to leave for Europe, I really want to find Albanians in Germany or somewhere in Europe. “Because there is no work or anything here,” he said.
Unemployment figures among the Albanian-born community in Ukraine are unknown.
According to the World Bank, the overall unemployment rate in this country is 9.5 percent.
While members of the Albanian community there say they do not fear a possible Russian invasion, concerns about such a scenario are growing on the world stage.
Russia denies plans to attack Ukraine and has made a number of demands to the United States and NATO.
Among other things, the Kremlin has demanded assurances from NATO that it will stop eastward expansion and will not accept former Soviet countries, including Ukraine.
The US and NATO have rejected these demands, but have offered diplomatic channels to resolve the crisis./REL
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