MOSCOW, March 6 Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the head of Gagauzia Evgenia Gutsul on the sidelines of the World Youth Festival in Sirius, said press secretary Dmitry Peskov.
“Yes. On the sidelines of the forum,” he said in response to a corresponding question.
Earlier on Wednesday Hutsul herself also reported this. According to her, she discussed the political situation in Moldova with the Russian leader.
“I reported <…> about the lawless actions of the authorities in Moldova, which is taking revenge for our civic position and loyalty to national interests. Chisinau is step by step taking away our powers, limiting the budget, violating legal rights, provoking instability and destabilization in Gagauzia and throughout the country,” the politician noted.
Putin, in turn, promised to support the autonomy and its people, she added.
Now Hutsul is on a working visit to Russia, where she has already had meetings with Federation Council Chairman Valentina Matvienko and other government officials. She also took part in the WFM and held negotiations with the leadership of Russian regions with which Gagauzia has partnership agreements.
Situation in the autonomy Last spring, elections for the head of the region were held in Gagauzia; Evgenia Gutsul, who was a candidate from the Shor party, won. In June, the Moldovan authorities declared this political force unconstitutional, accusing it, among other things, of collaborating with Russia. President Maia Sandu has still not signed a decree approving Hutsul as a member of the government, although this is required by the country's legislation.
Since then, Chisinau has begun to exert economic pressure on the region. Thus, in October, the Parliament of Moldova approved the initiative of the ruling party “Action and Solidarity”, according to which it was planned to refund VAT to economic agents of Gagauzia not from the republican budget, but from the regional one. The co-chairman of the working group of the parliament of the republic and the regional legislative assembly of the autonomy, Sergei Chimpoesh, then said that the changes would lead to a loss of 6.8 million dollars in the budget of Gagauzia.
The day before, the country's Constitutional Court nevertheless canceled these amendments, declaring them illegal.
Gagauzia — autonomy in the south of Moldova, which traditionally advocates rapprochement with Russia, while Chisinau has declared a course towards European integration. In February 2014, a referendum was held in this territory on the issue of determining the vector of the country’s foreign policy. More than 98 percent of its participants were in favor of integrating the republic into the Customs Union.