Restive pro-Russian Moldovan region holds elections

Voters in Moldova's restive, pro-Russian Gagauzia ​region were electing a new regional leader ​and legislature on Sunday after ‌the previous leader, ​Evgenia Gutul, was jailed for electoral fraud.

Eight candidates were vying in early elections for the position of bashkan, or leader, of ‌Gagauzia, a region in Moldova's south inhabited mainly by ethnic Turks who adhere to Orthodox Christianity and generally favour close ties with Russia. Gutul last year was given a sentence of seven years in prison on ‌charges of illegally channelling money from Russia to finance a political party that former Soviet Moldova ‌says was a front for Russian meddling. Gutul regularly visited Moscow while in office.

Russia has long denounced Gutul's sentencing and incarceration and accused Moldova's pro-European authorities of suppressing opposition. Two candidates, both lawyers and seen as pro-Russian, are seen as frontrunners. ⁠Fiodor Gagauz ​represents the pro-Russian Socialist Party. ⁠Alexandr Stoianoglo ran against Moldovan President Maia Sandu in her successful 2024 reelection campaign.

Gagauzia, which secured autonomy after the ⁠collapse of Soviet rule, has a history of opposition to authorities in Moldova, one of Europe's poorest countries ​lying between Ukraine and European Union member Romania. Sandu's government, which hopes to secure EU membership ⁠by 2030, has fiercely opposed Russia's war in Ukraine and accuses Moscow of interfering in its affairs.

Moldova also tackles separatist ⁠sentiment ​in the Transdniestria region on the Ukrainian border, where pro-Russian forces proclaimed an independent state in 1990, when Moldova was still a Soviet republic. Transdniestria's self-styled president, Vadim Krasnoselsky, returned to Moldova on Sunday ⁠after receiving a state award in Moscow from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Moldovan Prime Minister Vasile Tofan ⁠said has the ⁠incident showed that Russia was trying to provoke his country. Government spokesperson Dumitru Ciorici issued a statement saying that Krasnoselsky would be barred from leaving the ‌country for ‌five years.