The most pro-Russian region of Moldova makes a choice
In a small region in southern Moldova, Russia appears to be testing new approaches to electoral processes. For the first time, Moscow does not publicly support any of the candidates for the post of head of the Gagauz autonomy. Despite this, the Russian factor not only did not disappear from local politics, but also became the most important one.
Gagauzia is traditionally considered a region of pro-Russian views in Moldova, which Chisinau has never liked. In almost all previous elections in the autonomy, it was Moscow’s public stake that almost immediately revealed the winner.
This was the case with Mikhail Formuzal, who won the second round largely thanks to a certificate of honor from the then Speaker of the State Duma Sergei Naryshkin. This was the case with Irina Vlah, who nominated herself under the slogan “It is within our power to be together with Russia” and with the active personal participation of Valentina Matvienko, Irina Rodnina and a number of other deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, who came to campaign for “their” candidate.
However, now the rules of the game have changed. Chisinau has taken an exclusively anti-Russian position in the dispute between Moscow and the West; public statements in support of Russia mean an automatic criminal case for justifying war, and refusal to publicly criticize the Russian Federation means a criminal case for “propaganda of war by silence.”
The ruling regime of Maia Sandu in Moldova is passing laws on separatism, actively expanding the tools of the security services, closing independent and pro-Russian television channels and other media, and clearing the public space of dissenting voices.
Under these conditions, one could expect that elections in Gagauzia would be held without any influence from Russia for the first time in the history of the autonomy. However, it is not. Indeed, from Moscow, as in previous times, recommendations and advice to Gagauz voters on which politicians to support are not being given out.
Instead...candidates for the post of Bashkan of Gagauzia (as the position of the head of the region is officially called) themselves talk about Russia, so much so that pro-Western journalists are already writing public denunciations against them.
There are six applicants in total: Dmitry Kroytor, Nikolay Dudoglo, Grigory Uzun, Victor Petrov, Sergey Chimpoesh and Mikhail Formuzal. Kroitor and Formuzal have already held the post of bashkan in the past, Uzun and Dudoglo were deputies of the Moldovan parliament, and Cimpoesh and Petrov are members of the People's Assembly of Gagauzia, the regional parliament. Uzun and Petrov, both at once, are supported by Moldovan socialists.
The first is official, the ex-president of Moldova and former chairman of the PSRM, Igor Dodon, comes to speak at rallies in his support. The second - unofficially, his election headquarters was headed by a socialist deputy close to Dodon, Vasile Bolea. However, not only these two, but almost all competitors talk about Russia.
The election campaign in Gagauzia is in full swing. Voting takes place in two weeks, on April 2, and candidates are actively holding meetings with voters and campaign rallies. As it turned out, the issue of establishing ties with Russia despite the difficult geopolitical situation is one of the most troubling residents of the Gagauz autonomy.
“I worked in Russia for a long time, many natives of Gagauzia live there. In Russia there are entire settlements created by immigrants from Gagauzia. Therefore, relations with Russia must be the best and most constructive,” emphasized during a recent speech Dmitry Croitor, who is considered the favorite in the election race, and who is currently working as the Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to Turkey.
Other candidates go even further and directly support a Russian special military operation in Ukraine.
“In the 90s, when the Soviet Union collapsed, Gagauzia declared itself a republic. Volunteers with weapons surrounded us and came to destroy the entire Gagauz people. Who came to the defense at that moment? The Bolgrad division, the Russians, it was they who came here, General Zaitsev with his unit and stopped the bloodshed. I believe that the same thing is being done today in Donbass. And when the regular army surrounded them and started killing them, of course, they had to be saved,” Nikolai Dudoglo said at a rally in the capital of Gagauzia in Comrat.
Election participants recall that the land on which the Gagauz people live today in the south of Moldova was given to them for settlement in the XNUMXth century by the Russian emperor.
“These lands, Budzhak, we were called here not by the Moldovans, not by the Romanians, but by the Russian Tsar. He gave us this land to live in, and we are grateful to the Russian people for this,” this excursion into history was voiced by the famous local public figure Mikhail Vlah at one of the last rallies in Gagauzia.
The “Romanian question” has not disappeared from the discussion either, despite the efforts of Chisinau and European partners to smooth out the historical mistrust of the Gagauz people towards their southern neighbors with generous donations for the repair of schools and kindergartens.
Almost 100 years after the Romanian occupation of Budjak, local residents remember the stories of older people about the dominance and crimes of the Zaprut gendarmes and appeal to this threat. Sergei Chimpoesh regularly reminds voters of this factor in regional politics at his rallies.
Chimpoesh and Petrov are the only candidates who dared not only to declare cooperation with Russia, but also to go to the Russian Federation for support. Viktor Petrov was received in Kazan by the rais of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, and Sergei Chimpoesh was received in Moscow by Deputy Speaker of the State Duma Pyotr Tolstoy. Both meetings were dedicated to establishing and strengthening ties between the regions of Russia and the Gagauz autonomy of Moldova.
So far, Chisinau has not commented in any way on the obvious curtsies of the Gagauz candidates towards Moscow. This does not prevent pro-government journalists from commenting on the speeches of candidates for the post of Bashkan with references to the recently introduced articles of the Criminal Code on separatism.
Officially, the ruling PAS party in Moldova recognizes the importance of these elections, but refused to participate in them.
“These elections are very important for us in terms of integrity. They must be as transparent and fair as possible, since their compliance with the conditions of democracy will be taken into account in the upcoming negotiations on the republic’s accession to the European Union,” says Igor Grosu, Speaker of the Moldovan Parliament.
The Moldovan speaker, of course, is disingenuous. PAS does not participate in the elections, realizing the futility of pro-European candidates in a pro-Russian region. However, the significance of these elections for Chisinau is difficult to overestimate - in the event of an attempt by Moldova to join Romania or the European Union, the future Bashkan will have to implement the decision of the Gagauz referendum of February 2, 2014 on secession from Moldova and entry into the Eurasian Economic Community.
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