Moldovan regional leader in Moscow as president fears destabilisation

The pro-Kremlin head of Moldova’s Gagauzia region asked Russia on Friday for its support and to maintain close ties, after the pro-European Moldovan
president said Moscow was mounting new efforts to destabilise her country.
Eugenia Gutul, governor of Gagauzia, met the speaker of Russia’s upper house of parliament in Moscow, accusing the central government in Chisinau of “oppressing” people’s rights in her region in the south of Moldova.
“We want … to continue to receive support from the Russian Federation,” she told Valentina Matviyenko, Russia’s most senior lawmaker, in a video published by Russia’s RIA news agency, requesting the establishment of direct flights to Moscow.
Gutul was elected last year to head Gagauzia, a region populated mainly by ethnic Turks. That vote was marred by what Chisinau said were irregularities that are being investigated.
The government has shunned Gutul, who is an ally of Ilan Shor, an exiled pro-Russian businessman convicted of fraud in Moldova. Shor founded a political party that has now been banned, and has been sanctioned by the U.S. as a Russian agent.