Moldova, Gagauzia. Evgeniya Gucul – a supporter of Vladimir Putin – may face trial

The criminal case against Cucul is to be heard by a court in the Buiucani district of Chisinau. The date of the meeting was not announced.

“The statement from the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office shows that Yevgeniya Cucul, employed as a secretary in the pro-Russian Sor party in 2019–2022, systematically brought money from Russia to Moldova. They were used to finance the activities of this group,” the Moldovan news portal NewsMaker wrote on Wednesday.

In June last year, the Moldovan Constitutional Court declared the activities of the Sor party unconstitutional.

According to the Moldovan prosecutor's office, Gucul also coordinated the activities of several offices of a pro-Russian group in Gagauzia.

In the fall of 2022, Gucul was to be responsible for checking lists and rewarding participants of protests inspired by the Kremlin that took place in the center of Chisinau.

Gucul reacted to the prosecutor's decision with an entry on the Telegram channel. She announced that “the criminal case against her was fabricated.”

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Evgenia Gucul, who returned from political obscurity last year and won the election as the head of the Gagauz Autonomy, has tense relations with the government in Chisinau, which is afraid that Russia and pro-Russian oligarchs in exile will interfere in Moldova's internal situation, he wrote in a telegram on Wednesday Reuters, also reporting on the decision of the Moldovan prosecutor's office.

Gucul ran in last year's elections with the support of the Sor party, founded by businessman Ilan Sor, who was hiding abroad from the Moldovan justice system.

At the beginning of March this year, Gucul reported that she met in Sochi with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was in the city on the occasion of a youth festival. Gucul reported then that Putin “promised support for Gagauzia.”

In interviews with Russian propaganda media, the president of Gagauzia maintained that “she will ask Moscow for help if Moldova joins the European Union.”

Gucul also questioned the sovereignty of the Moldovan authorities, claiming that “they are controlled by Romania.”

Over 130,000 people live in Gagauzia, an autonomous region in the south of Moldova. The region's relations with Chisinau deteriorated after Russia's armed invasion of Ukraine and the decision of the Moldovan authorities to support sanctions against Russia.