CHISINAU, October 15. /TASS/. The government of Moldova pressured head of the country’s Gagauz autonomy Evghenia Gutsul to resign, promising to end all criminal proceedings against her, Gutsul told TASS in an interview, whose text was handed over by her lawyers.

"From the very first day, I faced an ultimatum: to betray the people of Gagauzia and give up my mandate, and, in exchange, the fabricated case will be closed. This is not justice, it’s dirty political blackmail," she said. "My answer was and will be the same: I’m with my people to the end."

The government of Moldovan President Maia Sandu wants to paralyze Gagauzia and sow chaos there, but it will fail, Gutsul added.

"The goal of the regime is not just to isolate me. Their goal is to paralyze Gagauzia, to destroy the government system and sow chaos, but they will fail," she said.

Gutsul’s relations with the Moldovan leadership became strained in 2023 after she won elections in the autonomy and proclaimed a course toward closer relations with Russia, criticizing Chisinau’s policy of confrontation with Moscow. Moldovan authorities tried to invalidate the election in Gagauzia, but the Gagauz parliament sided with Gutsul. Apart from that, a series of grass-roots rallies were held in her support. However, Moldovan President Maia Sandu refused to sign a document approving Gutsul as a government member, which is required to be done under the country’s laws.

On August 5, 2025, Gutsul was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of illegal financing of the opposition party Sor. Apart from that, she was banned from being a member of any political party for five years and fined $2.4 million, the amount she allegedly took to finance her campaign. Her defense challenged the court ruling.