EU Imposes Sanctions against Evghenia Guțul for ‘Promoting Separatism’ in Gagauzia

The EU extended sanctions against individuals ‘destabilizing the situation in Moldova’. The sanctions list includes Gagauzia’s governor, Evghenia Guțul, for ‘promoting separatism’ in Gagauzia, ‘close ties with Russia’, ‘threatening Moldova’s sovereignty’ and ‘attempting to overthrow the constitutional order’. The document was published in the EU Official Journal, tv8.md reports. The sanctions were also imposed on Guțul’s deputy and media relations adviser Mihail Vlah, the deputy head of Gagauzia’s external relations department, Iurie Kuznetsov, and the executive committee deputy chairman and the region’s National Assembly member, Ilia Guzun, ‘for their destabilizing actions in Gagauzia’. The Russia-based non-governmental association Eurasia, which ‘aims at promoting Russia’s interests abroad, including in Moldova’, and its founder Nelli Parutenco also fell under the restrictions. The sanctions include a ban on travelling to the European Union, as well as an asset freeze. Local politicians and deputies believe that the inclusion of the autonomy’s head in the EU sanctions list will have a negative impact, first of all, on the image of the region, and secondly, on its investment attractiveness. In May 2023, Guțul won the election for Gagauzia’s bașkan as a candidate of the pro-Russian party ‘Șor’, later recognized as unconstitutional. Evghenia Guțul is under investigation in Moldova for two criminal cases. The first concerns her work for Șor: Guțul is accused of being involved in the illegal financing of the party, specifically bringing money from Russia into Moldova from 2019 to 2022. The second case relates to her involvement in organizing protests in Chisinau in 2022, where, according to the investigation, she was in charge of paying people rallying near public institutions.