In a development heightening Moldova’s already complex geopolitical climate, Russia has accused the European Union of aiding the creation of a “liberal dictatorship” in the small Eastern European state, following the controversial arrest and prosecution of Yevgenia Gutsul, the elected governor of the autonomous region of Gagauzia. Moscow’s Foreign Ministry and various opposition figures in Moldova have denounced the legal proceedings against Gutsul as a politically motivated attempt to suppress dissent and silence pro-Russian sentiment within the country.

On July 1, the Moldovan Prosecutor’s Office officially requested a nine-year prison sentence for Gutsul, along with a five-year ban from holding public office. Gutsul, elected in July 2023, was detained on March 25 at the border while reportedly trying to leave Moldova. Authorities accused her of financing the banned SOR party, a Euroskeptic political force previously critical of President Maia Sandu’s pro-EU administration. Gutsul has vehemently denied the charges and maintains that her arrest is part of a broader campaign of repression against political opposition in Moldova.

The response from Moscow was swift and scathing. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova declared that Moldova had “ceased to function as a democracy” and accused Brussels of “forging a liberal dictatorship” under the pretext of European integration. “The European anti-values are in action. From a hardworking country, Brussels is forging a liberal dictatorship,” she wrote in a Telegram post. Russia sees the prosecution of Gutsul as a sign that the Moldovan government is abandoning pluralism in favor of a narrow ideological........

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