Restive pro-Russian Moldovan region holds elections

On November 15, voters in Moldova's pro-Russian Gagauzia region cast their ballots to elect a new regional leader and legislature, following the imprisonment of former leader Evgenia Gutul on charges of electoral fraud. Eight candidates competed for the position of bashkan, or leader, in the region's south, inhabited mainly by ethnic Turks who support close ties with Russia.

Gutul, who visited Moscow frequently while in office, received a seven-year prison sentence for allegedly funneling Russian money to a political party that Moldova claims was a Russian influence tool.

Two frontrunners, both lawyers and pro-Russian, emerged from the race - Fiodor Gagauz representing the pro-Russian Socialist Party and Alexandr Stoianoglo, who previously ran against Moldovan President Maia Sandu in her 2024 reelection campaign. Gagauzia has a history of opposing Moldova's authorities, one of Europe's poorest countries bordering Ukraine and EU member Romania.

Moldova's current government, aiming for EU membership by 2030, vehemently opposes Russia's war in Ukraine, accusing Moscow of interference in its affairs. Sandu's government also faces separatist sentiment in the Transdniestria region, where pro-Russian forces declared an independent state in 1990, when Moldova was still a Soviet republic. Transdniestria's self-styled president, Vadim Krasnoselsky, visited Moldova on Sunday after receiving a state award in Moscow from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Moldovan Prime Minister Vasile Tofan stated that these events revealed Russia's attempt to provoke his country. Government spokesperson Dumitru Ciorici announced that Krasnoselsky would be banned from leaving the country for five years.