| Evghenia Guțul | |
| Office: | Governor of Gagauzia |
| Predecessor: | Irina Vlah |
| Birth Date: | 5 September 1986 |
| Birth Place: | Etulia, Moldavian SSR, Soviet Union (now Gagauzia, Moldova) |
| Term Start: | 19 July 2023 |
| Party: | Victory bloc (since 2024) |
| Otherparty: | Șor Party (2018–2023) Independent (before 2018, 2023–2024) |
| Native Name Lang: | gag |
Evghenia Guțul (born 5 September 1986; Evgeniya Guţul[1] or Guțul[2]), also rendered Yevgenia Gutsul (Russian: Евгения Гуцул)[3] [4] and Eugenia Guțul,[5] [6] is a Moldovan Gagauzian jurist and politician, who has served as Governor of Gagauzia since 19 July 2023. In April 2024 she was indicted in a criminal case with the Anticorruption Court of Moldova.
As Governor, she has sought to have closer relations with Russia. Following her party's banning by Moldovan authorities, she has been an independent.[7]
Guțul was born on 5 September 1986 in the village of Etulia, a Gagauz village in the Moldavian SSR of the Soviet Union.[8] Guțul's maiden name is Buiucli.[9] She is married and has two children, and continues to maintain Etulia as her permanent place of residence.
Prior to her 2023 election, Guțul had no significant political background. After attending school to become a lawyer, she worked as a telephone operator from 2012 to 2014. Afterwards she worked as a telecommunications operator, commercial representative, and archivist. Guțul only entered politics when she worked as a secretary for her local Shor branch in 2018.
Guțul has built her political career as a pro-Russian activist. On 22 March 2023, she was selected as candidate for Governor of Gagauzia by the Șor Party. During the election campaign, Guțul promised that if she is elected, she will build an airport worth 100 million euros, increase the salaries of budget workers by 30%, build an amusement park and that there will be other investments in infrastructure, education, and other sectors of the economy. Some journalists described many of the promises as unrealistic, as in their assessment the implementation of such projects are beyond the powers of the Governor. Guțul was supported in the elections by oligarch and party Chair Ilan Șor, lawmakers Marina Tauber and Reghina Apostolova, as well as several Russian performers and artists, such as Nikolay Baskov, Philipp Kirkorov, and Stas Mikhaylov, as well as Leonid Slutsky, the leader of the Russian ultra-nationalist LDPR.
She is known for her sharply pro-Russian views and calls for rapprochement with Moscow. Since March 2024, Guțul is often in Moscow on working visits. Her statements about the infringement of Gagauz rights are narratives promoted by the Kremlin. When meeting with Putin, Guțul discussed “complex regional and geopolitical issues, in the epicenter of which the region is located.”[10]
In addition, Guțul said she was ready to open a representative office of Gagauzia in Moscow, to which she was reminded in Chișinău that Gagauzia is not a separate subject of international law and is part of Moldova.[11]
Guțul said that in case of a potential unification of Moldova with Romania, she wants to initiate secession from Moldova and is ready to ask Russia for “protection” if this is prevented. According to Guțul, Gagauzia opposes unification with Romania, and “many residents of the autonomy and the whole of Moldova oppose Moldova's accession to the EU.” The American Institute for the Study of War notes that Guțul's recent remarks about the possibility of Gagauzia seceding from Moldova in the event of unification with Romania are an attempt by the Kremlin “to use pro-Russian players in Moldova to destabilize Moldovan democracy and society, prevent Moldova's accession to the EU, or even to justify future hybrid or conventional operations against Moldova.”[12] [13]
Moldovan President Maia Sandu believes that Guțul's visits to Moscow mean that she supports Russia's invasion of Ukraine.[14]
In the 2023 Gagauz gubernatorial election, she finished the first round in first place with 14,890 votes (26.47%), but given the fact that a majority was not met, the second round took place on 14 May. In the second round, Guțul obtained 27,376 of the votes (52.39%), defeating the independent candidate Grigorii Uzun, supported by the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova, who had 24,926 votes (47.66%), thus winning a 4-year mandate at the head of the autonomous unit.[15] [16] In her victory speech, Guțul affirmed her intention to align the region closer with Russia. Following the banning of Șor on June 19, 2023, Guțul announced that she would take office and govern Gagauzia as a political independent.
On July 19, 2023, the inauguration of Guțul as Bashkan of Gagauzia took place.[17] The event was not attended by Irina Vlah, who had completed her mandate as bashkan, and therefore the symbolic procedure of transfer of power did not take place. Prime Minister Dorin Recean, President Maia Sandu and PAS MPs said they would not attend the inauguration. Representatives of the Comrat Court of Appeal, which approved the election results, were also not present at the event. According to the Statute of Gagauzia, the oath of office is taken no later than 30 days after the official announcement of the election results, in a solemn atmosphere at a special session of the People's Assembly and Tribunal of Gagauzia, in the Gagauz language. Instead, the results were announced by the head of the CEC of Gagauzia, Jana Covalenco, in Russian. Also, representatives of Moldovan diplomatic missions were absent at the event. During the oath of office, Guțul forgot to put her hand on the Constitution, she was helped by Speaker Dmitri Constantinov. In addition, when she finished reading the oath, Guțul kissed only the flag of the Gagauz autonomy, without kissing the flag of Moldova. The bashkan promised to hold a press conference and answer journalists' questions. The main question of the press representatives was the source of funding for this event. However, Guțul and PAG speaker Dimitri Konstantinov left the stage in a hurry.[18] [19]
Guțul named Sergei Ibrishim as the head of the Main Directorate of the Agro-Industrial Complex of Gagauzia, the governmental branch in charge of agriculture and industry. A noted Russophile, Ibrishim personally wrote a letter to the Kremlin urging Russian intervention to allow Gagauzian goods to be sold in Russia at the same rate as that prior to Moldova's withdrawal from the CIS in December 2023.[20]
One of Guțul's first acts in office was to perform a state visit to Russia, where she met with Russian officials from March 1 to March 8, 2024. Guțul outlined three key economic policies that would be created as a result of her visit, the first was a "special gas tariff", independent from the tariff on Moldova, without input from Moldovan officials, bypassing sanctions placed on Russian gas companies. Secondly Gagauzia, and its residents, would be integrated into the MIR payment system. Lastly, Gagauzia will have an independent excise taxes and duties on Russian goods, without input from the Moldovan government. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has deemed this a form of "energy blackmail" against Moldova, as the lower tariffs would make it nearly impossible for the Moldovan government to reduce dependence on Gagauzia's four Gazprom natural gas power plants.
On 13 March 2024, Guțul announced that she was organizing a meeting with prominent pro-Russian politicians of Moldova, such as Igor Dodon, Vladimir Voronin, Ilan Shor, and the leadership of the Revival Party. This quadrumvir of Dodon, Guțul, Shor, and Voronin, are possibly organizing into one singular opposition movement against the pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity to contest the 2024 presidential and the 2025 parliamentary elections.
On 9 April 2024, Guțul and the chairman of the People's Assembly of Gagauzia Dmitry Konstantinov signed an agreement in Moscow on the use of Mir cards in Gagauzia. According to Guțul, “these measures will allow to overcome the economic blockade organized by Chisinau and to bring to Gagauzia funds for financing social, infrastructural and economic projects”.[21]
On 21 April 2024, a congress was held, which brought together about 500 supporters of a fugitive Moldovan oligarch who had taken refuge in Moscow. The agreement to unite the opposition political forces into the “Victory” bloc was signed by Guțul, who became the executive secretary of the national political council, in addition to the Shor party, which is banned in Moldova. For the Russian press, the event was described as “a congress of Moldovan politicians supporting Chisinau's accession to the Eurasian Economic Union.”[22] [23]
On April 24, the Moldovan anti-corruption prosecutor's office announced that it referred a case against Guțul to the anti-corruption court.[24] She could "face up to seven years in prison and a prohibition for up to five years from holding certain positions or engaging in specific activities."[25]
On 12 June 2024, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on Guțul, freezing any assets held by her in the country and banning its citizens from dealing with her.[26]
In January 2022, a criminal prosecution was launched. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office of Moldova brought charges against Guțul for receiving and smuggling money from Russia to finance the now banned in Moldova pro-Russian Shor party. According to the investigation, in 2019 - 2022, Guțul, while working as a secretary in the “Shor” party, systematically imported into Moldova money received from an organized criminal group from Russia. Subsequently, this money was integrated into the party's activities in order to support its activity in the Moldovan political arena. There is another accusation, according to which Guțul, as an accomplice, in the period from October to November 2022, coordinated the activity of some territorial branches of the former party “Shor” in the districts of the Republic of Moldova. She was responsible for verifying, approving lists and remunerating protesters in front of state institutions in Chișinău - Parliament, Government, Presidency, Prosecutor General's Office, etc. (at the same time, the actions were organized by a party declared unconstitutional in the country). Thus, she knowingly accepted funding for the political party from an organized criminal group for a total amount of about 42.5 million lei (converted into more than 2.2 million euros).[27] [28]
On April 24, 2024, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office of Moldova announced that it had completed the investigation and submitted the case against Guțul to the court. The hearing of the case has already been postponed several times, the accused was unable to attend the court session due to health reasons.[29] If proven guilty, Guțul faces imprisonment from 2 to 7 years with a ban on holding public office.[30]