Vladimir Putin spoke with the governor of Gagauzia, Yevgenia Gutsul, on March 6. The Russian president told the governor he would “support” GagAUzia and its people.
The autonomous region is in southern Moldova, with 135,000 inhabitants. The region has benefited from a special status since the Moldovan government began negotiations which resulted in the 1994 agreements with the Transnistria government. The Moldovan state is banking on this compromise to avoid internal guerrillas of scale.