Salaru: Gagauzia’s Status Is “Slightly Different from That of a District”

In an interview with The Insider, the former defense minister said that “Gagauzia is an administrative-territorial formation just above the district level, which received rights for the national development of culture, language and so on.” “This is what the Moldovan parliament gave them these elements of autonomy, which suffered greatly during the Soviet Union. Gagauzia had almost no education in their native language and they suffered the most from Russification,” said Salaru. He added that “Gagauzia is between Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova” and “since it is a zone without industry and no signs of statehood at all, they cannot develop on their own - just as Transnistria cannot develop on its own without Russian gas and money”. At the same time, Salaru believes that if Gagauzia “wants to be autonomous”, it should do it “on its own means, not on Chisinau’s ones”. During the same interview, the former Moldovan defense minister also expressed the opinion that the governor of Gagauzia, Evghenia Gutul, would be removed from office.