The governor of Moldova’s pro-Russia Gagauzia area has reportedly change into the second regional chief from the Japanese European nation to request the “safety” of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Gagauzia Governor Eugenia Gutul accused her nation’s pro-European Union (EU) management of “oppressing” pro-Kremlin residents of her area throughout a gathering with the speaker of Russia’s Senate in Moscow on Friday, in keeping with Reuters.
The event got here after Congress of Moldova’s internationally unrecognized pro-Russia breakaway state Transnistria earlier this week requested that Putin’s authorities “implement measures for defending Transnistria,” which elicited fears that Russia could transfer to invade Moldova.
“We wish … to proceed to obtain assist from the Russian Federation,” Gutul reportedly informed Speaker Valentina Matviyenko throughout the assembly on Friday, earlier than requesting the institution of direct airline flights between Gagauzia and Russia.
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Matviyenko reportedly responded by praising Gutul for caring “concerning the improvement of the economic system,” whereas touting “the growth of ties between our areas and Gagauzia” and stating that “10 Russian constituent areas have signed agreements with Gagauzia.”
“There’s an autonomous territorial unit, Gagauzia, which cares about its residents, which needs to develop, which needs to enhance the welfare of its residents,” Matviyenko mentioned, in keeping with Russian-state media company TASS.
“And if the leaders of Gagauzia are keen to cooperate on this approach, we … will present all potential help [to] strengthen and increase our ties,” she added. “And nobody can prohibit both us otherwise you [from doing so].”
Newsweek reached out for remark to Putin’s workplace and the Embassy of Moldova in Washington, D.C., by way of e mail on Friday evening.
Gutul was elected to steer Gagauzia on a pro-Russia platform final 12 months in an election that Moldova’s nationwide authorities later investigated for fraud, together with residents allegedly voting for Gutul after taking bribes.
The governor’s go to to Moscow will seemingly intensify issues that Moldova may change into the following goal for the expansionist ambitions of Putin. The nation shares its jap border with Ukraine, which Russia invaded on February 24, 2022, below the pretext of aiding pro-Russia separatists within the Donetsk and Luhansk areas.
Moldova was additionally granted EU membership candidate standing in 2022, with plans to change into a member of the union by 2030. The Russian authorities has strongly opposed its regional neighbors becoming a member of organizations such because the EU and NATO, the growth of which Putin cited as a further cause for invading Ukraine.
In February 2023, Moldovan President Maia Sandu accused Putin of plotting a coup to overthrow her nation’s authorities, a state of affairs that some Western analysts warned could possibly be achieved with the assistance of roughly 1,500 troops that stay stationed in Transnistria following the warfare that led to it changing into an unrecognized state within the Nineteen Nineties.
A consultant for the Russian Ministry of Overseas Affairs informed Russia’s state-run information company RIA Novosti on Wednesday that Moscow would “fastidiously” contemplate Transnistria’s request for shielding Russian “compatriots” within the area.
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Newsweek is dedicated to difficult standard knowledge and discovering connections within the seek for widespread floor.