The President of Moldova, Maia Sandu, believes that many candidates for the heads of Gagauzia are "rather agents of Russia than politicians who want to work for the residents of the autonomy."
This is reported by Newsmaker.
Sandu commented on the recent incident with the head of Tatarstan, Rustam Minikhanov. He was going to visit Gagauzia at the invitation of one of the local politicians participating in the elections of the head of the autonomy, but he was not allowed to enter Moldova.
"What we saw during this visit is interference in the electoral process in Moldova under the influence of Russia. Unfortunately, many candidates are agents of the Russian Federation rather than politicians who want to work for the residents of the autonomy," the president said.
When asked why in the election campaign in Gagauzia they "use horror stories" directed against the European Union and the Moldovan authorities, Sandu noted the strong influence of Russian propaganda and ignorance of the Romanian language in Gagauzia.
"Their world is a world that is probably completely dominated by Russian propaganda, because we face this problem in other regions of the country as well. But let's not forget that in Gagauzia people do not speak Romanian. Most of them do not understand Romanian , that is, they cannot hear another point of view," Sandu answered.
"I insisted for a long time on the Romanian language program and I hope that the Ministry of Education will finally launch this program. [...] I can't imagine how else people can integrate into society if they don't understand us, if they can't watch your programs or programs of other TV channels," the president added.
We will remind, on April 30, Gagauzia will hold elections for the regional governor. Acting Bashkan Iryna Vlah cannot take part in them, as she is ending her second mandate in this position. The CEC of Gagauzia registered eight candidates for this position.
