According to the ISW team, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin intends to use Transnistria and Gagauzia for hybrid operations. He wants to destabilise the situation in Moldova on the eve of negotiations on accession to the EU and presidential elections.
Moldova may become Putin's new victim
American analysts noted that Yevgenia Hutsul, the head of the pro-Russian Moldovan autonomous region of Gagauzia, met with Sergei Kirienko, the deputy head of the Russian presidential administration, on March 7 in Russia.
It is essential to understand that this happened immediately after the Moldovan authorities officially announced that the criminal case against Hutsul would soon be brought to court.
Hutsul called on Putin's henchman to help the Gagauz people open accounts in Russian banks "for social projects," lift the Russian embargo on imports from Gagauzia, and help in negotiations with the Russian state energy company Gazprom about supplying gas to Gagauzia at a discounted price.
According to foreign experts, the increased attention of official Moscow to relations with Gagauzia after the recent rhetorical attention to another pro-Russian region of Moldova, Transnistria, confirms the fact that Putin expects to use both of these regions to justify hybrid operations aimed at destabilizing and further polarizing Moldova on the eve of the negotiations on Moldova's accession to the EU and the presidential elections in Moldova to be held in 2024.
You can find out more about the situation in Moldova and PMR from the special issue of Online.UA:
Moldova's SIS chief also warns about Putin's plans
The chief of the Security and Intelligence Service of Moldova (SIS), Alexandru Musteață, recently said that the Russian dictator's team will try to interfere in the presidential and parliamentary elections.
In addition, the Kremlin will try to provoke social conflicts in Gagauzia and Transnistria in order to compromise Moldova's accession to the EU.
The Security and Intelligence Service has data that indicate an unprecedented level of intensity of Russia's actions. The purpose of these actions is to compromise Moldova's accession to the EU, to undermine democratic processes and to keep Moldova in its sphere of influence, Alexandru Musteață said.
