Kremlin wirepullers may be encouraging the stalemate preventing elections being held in the autonomous region of Gagauzia, Moldovan politicians say.
Madalin Necsutu
A months-long electoral deadlock in Moldova’s autonomous Gagauzia region has raised serious tensions between Chisinau and the regional capital, Comrat, as well as new questions about Moscow’s political influence in the area.
The autonomous region in southern Moldova, home to about 150,000 mostly pro-Russian residents, faces an electoral and institutional crisis, with analysts blaming both local politics and Moscow’s influence for the situation.
The Gagauz are a Turkic-speaking Orthodox Christian minority, but Russia has been the main outside political force in the region since Gagauzia became autonomous in 1994.
Relations between Comrat and Chisinau have often been tense. These tensions worsened after the 2023 election of Evghenia Gutul as governor. She is widely seen as an ally of the pro-Russian oligarch Ilan Shor, currently a fugitive and wanted for arrest in Moldova. Since then, critics say, Moscow’s influence over the region’s leaders has become more obvious.
