“Russia and its proxies are now actively focusing their efforts on the Moldovan diaspora,” National Security Adviser Stanislav Secrieru told POLITICO.
“The indictment of Guțul is one of the few examples of success within a broader trend to clean up the Moldovan public space of corrupt officials,” said Oktawian Milewski, a political scientist based in Warsaw.
According to him, Guțul came to power in Gagauzia after a rigged election in 2023, where politicians were giving out so-called electoral gifts containing food products and basic consumables.
“The Gagauz elections of April-May 2023 served as a testing ground for what was to come in the Kremlin’s plan of a massive electoral bribing attempt in the summer–autumn of 2024 on a larger scale, that is, on the rest of the territory of Moldova,” Milewski said. “Despite no prior political experience, Guțul became one of the main voices and faces of the Kremlin’s propaganda in Gagauzia, but also for the pro-Russian opposition in Chisinau as well,” the expert added.
Guțul was escorted to prison after the ruling, according to local media reports. However, her lawyer, Sergiu Moraru, plans to file an appeal.
“This is not a trial, but a public execution. I can’t say that there is evidence there, there is fiction,” Moraru told local TV8.md after the court session.