TIRASPOL, May 5. /TASS/. The situation around the Gagauz autonomy which comes under mounting pressure from Moldova shows to Transnistria how right it has been in its independence, the president of the unrecognized republic, Vadim Krasnoselky, said in an interview with TASS.

"We monitor the processes taking place around Gagauzia, and we don’t like it at all. Because as we project all these scenarios onto ourselves, onto Transnistria, and we see once again how right our position on Transnistria’s independence has been," he stated.

"I strongly believe that the security of Transnistrian citizens living here, their freedoms and their right to language and the right to carry out business activities, among other rights, are directly linked to our independence," the Transnistrian leader emphasized. "Only we, not Chisinau, can guarantee our security. Chisinau has demonstrated its attitude toward the Gagauz autonomy. We can see how they act in breach of their own Constitution and their own laws," he noted.

Relations between Chisinau and Comrat have sharply deteriorated following the 2023 election of Yevgenia Gutsul as head of Gagauzia. Gutsul, an opposition candidate, expressed her intent to strengthen the region’s friendly ties with Russia and criticized the pro-Western Moldovan government’s confrontational stance toward Moscow. Moldova’s authorities attempted to declare her election invalid, but the Gagauz parliament expressed solidarity with Gutsul. Several mass protests supporting her were held in the region. President Maia Sandu refused to sign the decree officially appointing Gutsul to the Moldovan government, defying legal procedures.

In March, Gutsul was detained on charges of violations regarding the financing of her election campaign. The Gagauz leader described the measures as unduly harsh, as she has attended all court hearings and cooperated with investigators.

The founding of the Gagauz Republic on August 19, 1990, resulted in a conflict which Chisinau tried to settle by force. However, Soviet troops helped to avoid bloodshed. Then representatives of Chisinau and Comrat sat down at the negotiating table, and in December 1994 the Moldovan parliament adopted the law on the special status of the Gagauz autonomy.

In 2014, after Moldova signed an association agreement with the European Union, a referendum was held in the region in which 98.4% of voters supported the idea of joining the Customs Union that existed between Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan then. And a majority supported Gagauzia’s self-determination should Moldova lose its sovereignty.