Moldova’s semi-autonomous Gagauzia region last week confirmed the election of a pro-Russia leader who supports closer ties with Moscow.
“We want further friendship with the Russian Federation and friendship with other countries,” Evghenia Gutul told reporters after being elected as the region’s “bashkan,” or leader, on May 14.
But unlike Gutul and her pro-Russia Sor Party, the central government in Chisinau, Moldova’s capital, is virulently opposed to cooperation with Russia.
Under President Maia Sandu, Moldova has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, halted the import of Russian natural gas, and accused Moscow of meddling in the country’s domestic affairs.
“Russia does not respect, and has never respected, our sovereignty and independence,” Sandu said late last month in the run-up to the regional election.
In televised comments, she accused Moscow of “trying to destabilize the situation in Moldova to obstruct our European course and provoke chaos.”
Sandu was elected in 2020 on promises to bring Moldova into the European Union. With a population of roughly 2.6 million people, Moldova is among the poorest nations in Europe.
Like Ukraine, which Russia invaded early last year, Moldova is a former Soviet republic that became independent in 1991 following the Soviet Union’s demise.
Chisinau Challenges Election Results
Gutul’s election as Gagauzia’s leader highlights the tenuous geopolitical position of tiny Moldova, which sits between Ukraine and NATO member Romania.Unlike the rest of the country, Gagauzia is peopled largely by ethnic Turks who adhere to the Russian Orthodox Church.
Located in southern Moldova near the Black Sea, the region and its people—known as Gagauz Turks—have traditionally tilted toward Moscow.
In the May 14 election, Gutul won 52 percent of the vote, while the rest went to Moldova’s Socialist Party.
Notably, Moldova’s Socialist Party has also been described as “pro-Russian” and has been critical of Chisinau’s combative approach to its dealings with Moscow.
Moldovan officials have challenged the election results, with Prime Minister Dorin Recean claiming that the election was marred by “irregularities.”
On May 16, Gagauzia’s regional assembly unanimously endorsed Gutul’s election.
On the same day, Moldova’s anti-corruption agency raided the office of Gagauzia’s election commission and reportedly confiscated voter lists.
In a statement cited by Moldovan media, the agency claimed that the raid was based on “reasonable suspicions” that voter lists included “people from outside the borders of the Republic of Moldova and deceased persons.”
As the raid was underway, hundreds of Gutul’s supporters gathered in Comrat, the Gagauz capital, shouting, “Down with Dictatorship! Down with Maia Sandu!”
For the past several months, the Sor (pronounced “Shor”) Party has staged a number of protests demanding Sandu’s resignation.
In February, thousands took to the streets of Chisinau to decry rampant inflation and skyrocketing energy costs.
Demonstrators also accused Sandu’s pro-Western government of driving Moldova into conflict with Russia.
Sandu, for her part, has sought to portray the protests as part of a Russian plot to destabilize the country and bring down her government.
Following the demonstrations in February, she accused Moscow of seeking to “overthrow the constitutional order” in order to put Moldova “at the disposal of Russia and stopping the European integration process.”
This would be accomplished through “violent actions masked under protests of the so-called opposition,” Sandu alleged.
Relations ‘Worst in Decades’
Chisinau has also accused Moscow of seeking to influence the election in Gagauzia.In the run-up to the election last month, Moldovan authorities barred a Russian delegation from entering the Turkish-speaking enclave.
The delegation was led by Rustam Minnikhanov, governor of Russia’s Tatarstan region, which, like Gagauzia, is populated largely by ethnic Turks.
“He [Minnikhanov] was headed to Gagauzia to support one of the candidates,” Sandu said in remarks broadcast on Moldovan television.
She went on to assert that several candidates in the election—presumably including Gutul—were, in fact, “agents of Russia.”
Minnikhanov, for his part, said he had come to Moldova at the invitation of Moldovan and Gagauz lawmakers who had recently visited Tatarstan.
The Russian Foreign Ministry described the incident as “an unfriendly act aimed at undermining cooperation” between the two countries.
Soon afterward, Moldova’s Foreign Ministry declared a Russian embassy employee persona non grata. Russia responded days later by expelling an employee of Moldova’s embassy in Moscow.
On April 24, Igor Dodon, leader of Moldova’s Socialist Party, lamented that his country’s current relations with Russia were at “the worst level in decades.”
In an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel, Dodon, who served as Moldova’s president from 2016 to 2020, accused Chisinau of antagonizing Moscow at the behest of its “Western curators.”
On May 15, Igor Grosu, parliamentary leader and a Sandu ally, announced plans to withdraw Moldova from the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
Established in 1991, the CIS is a Moscow-led regional organization made up of nine former Soviet republics. Its stated aim is to promote economic, political, and security cooperation between member states.
Dodon described the move as an “unwise step” by the ruling Party of Action and Solidarity, which was founded by Sandu in 2016 and is currently headed by Grosu.
“It stems from the desire to please their Western sponsors and disregards the opinion of the majority of our country’s people, who ... don’t want to cut ties with the CIS,” Dodon told Russia’s TASS news agency on May 15.
Indeed, public sentiment regarding Russia—and its ongoing conflict with Ukraine—appears to be deeply divided.
In March, Moldova’s parliament endorsed a statement branding Russia’s invasion “unprovoked and illegal,” demanding that Moscow’s forces withdraw from Ukraine.
Eastern Enclave Looks to Moscow
Gagauzia isn’t the only Russia-leaning region causing headaches for Moldova.Earlier this month, Transnistria, a Russian-administered enclave in eastern Moldova, asked Moscow to bolster its peacekeeping force because of “mounting security risks.”
In 1991, war erupted between newly independent Moldova and pro-Russian separatists in the country’s east. Since then, roughly 1,500 Russian peacekeepers have remained in the enclave, along with 470,000 Russian-speaking inhabitants.
Making the situation all the more volatile, Transnistria shares a 280-mile-long border with Ukraine. What’s more, the enclave is home to a number of arms depots that reportedly contain vast amounts of Soviet-Era munitions.
“Transnistria has repeatedly applied for an increase in the number of Russian peacekeepers,” Leonid Manakov, the enclave’s envoy to Moscow, was quoted as saying by the Russian media on May 8.
The increase is needed, Manakov said, because of what he called “worsening security risks.”
In February, Moscow accused Ukraine of planning to stage an attack on Transnistria. At the time, the Russian Defense Ministry warned of an “imminent threat” to Russian peacekeepers deployed in the enclave.
Kyiv, Chisinau, and their Western allies denied the Russian assertions.
On May 19, Vadim Krasnoselsky, Transnistria’s Moscow-aligned leader, said the alleged threat from Ukraine had abated since February.
Krasnoselsky told TASS, “Any provocative actions—such as sabotage or terrorist acts—cannot be ruled out.”
