“It’s a very recognizable style. There is an attitude that the Gagauz autonomy should be suppressed as much as possible. It is perceived as a kind of threat to unity,” the BUSINESS Online expert comments on the decision of the Moldovan authorities, who did not let Rustam Minnikhanov into the country. The board of the president of Tatarstan was deployed at the airport in Chisinau, explaining that Minnikhanov is an “undesirable person.” Minnikhanov and the general director of Ak Bars Holding Company JSC planned to speak at a forum in Gagauzia and discuss economic cooperation. Before such curiosities with the President of the Republic of Tatarstan did not happen. The interlocutors of the newspaper explain the motives of the official Chisinau and discuss whether it is necessary to respond to Moscow.
“They didn’t even let me get off the plane”
What happened? The authorities of Moldova declared the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov an “undesirable person” and refused to let him into the territory of the republic. The incident happened this afternoon, Minnikhanov himself told about it. His statement, made on board the plane at the airport in Chisinau, was first published by the local edition gagauznews. In the video, Minnikhanov clarifies that he flew to Moldova at the invitation of the leader of the People’s Union of Gagauzia movement, a candidate for the post of head of the Gagauz autonomy of Moldova, Viktor Petrov, and a deputy of the country’s parliament, Alexander Sukhodolsky. Only in mid-March did politicians come to Kazan and meet with Minnikhanov.
“Unfortunately, the Moldovan authorities have decided that we are unwanted citizens who cannot visit your country,” Minnikhanov said. As the president of the republic noted, Tatarstan and Gagauzia have good traditions, and their peoples are brothers. “Of course, in recent years we have had a lot of contacts, and we have further plans for further development. I really hope that the young team – Petrov, Sukhodolsky – will be such a good link between Russia, Tatarstan and Gagauzia,” Minnikhanov added. Tatarstan is always happy to host the residents of Gagauzia, the president assured.
On board the aircraft was also the General Director of Ak Bars Holding Company JSC Ivan Egorov. It is known that Minnikhanov and Yegorov planned to visit the city of Comrat and take part in the first international congress of people’s diplomacy “Friendship of Peoples – 2023”. The forum was timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Russian community in Moldova. “I sent an official invitation to Minnikhanov to the congress.
Minnikhanov’s visit was not announced in advance. However, as a rule, the details of such international trips are negotiated in advance through internal channels. And because the curious story at the airport raises questions. The aviation authorities of Moldova allowed the arrival and landing of the plane, but forbade Minnikhanov to leave the board. Why such inconsistency? It is possible that Chisinau deliberately made a scandal at the airport. The version that the local authorities found out about the arrival at the very last moment does not inspire confidence. The fact that the president of the Republic of Tatarstan is an undesirable person in Moldova has not been reported before. So far, official Chisinau has not commented on the incident. The Kazan Kremlin refrained from additional comments. “Rustam Nurgalievich personally informed in detail about the current situation,” said Lilia Galimova, head of the press service of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan.
Previously, such oddities with the participation of Minnikhanov (at least public ones) did not occur. The authorities of Moldova have tightened the entry of Russians into the country since September 2022, and before that, they repeatedly denied entry to the republic to Russian artists, political scientists, scientists, public figures and journalists. The border service explained the refusal with the standard wording: they could not confirm the purpose of the visit. In March, the Russian was not allowed into Moldova, suspecting him of participating in the NVO.
“This is disrespectful! This is a challenge to all Turkic peoples!”
At the forum in the House of Culture of the city of Comrat, where Minnikhanov did not get, Tatarstan was celebrated separately – with flags, the anthem of the republic and eulogies. “Today, a special guest was supposed to be with us in the hall, but thanks to the efforts of our Moldovan authorities, our government (he was not allowed into the country). A shame!” Sukhodolsky was indignant at the opening of the congress. He stressed that the head of “the largest economic holding of Tatarstan and the Russian Federation” Yegorov was going to present “real economic proposals” at the forum. “A delegation flew to us with a helping hand! And today this lawlessness, which is being repaired by our government… They are afraid! They are afraid that the people of Gagauzia will make a choice on April 30 that their curators will not like!” – the deputy of the Moldovan parliament was inflamed.
The hall listened to Minnikhanov’s video message with applause and shouts: “Thank you!” Sukhodolsky finished with an apology to the President of the Republic of Tatarstan: “We tell you, Rustam Nurgalievich, we are always waiting for you in Gagauzia and will be glad to see you any time when normal power finally reigns in our country.” Petrov from the stage of the Palace of Culture called on all Turkic peoples to pay attention to the “egregious” incident. “This is disrespectful. This is a challenge to all Turkic peoples! How could the President of Tatarstan not be allowed into Moldova! He came to us with good goals, with good economic projects,” the politician, who was “overwhelmed with negative emotions,” emphasized. The forum ended with the fact that its participants recorded their response to Minnikhanov on an iPhone.
The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Tatarstan and the authorities of Gagauzia signed an agreement on trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation during the presidency of the state adviser of the Republic of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev – in May 1999. Minnikhanov then signed the document in the status of the prime minister of the republic. In 2018, the parties approved an action plan for the implementation of that agreement, and on the sidelines of the SPIEF, they signed an agreement to open a representative office of Gagauzia in Kazan. True, there has been no news of the opening since then.
Of course, the Moldovan authorities regarded Minnikhanov’s visit as a political one. The fact is that at the end of April, elections of a new bashkan, the head of the executive branch and the leader of the People’s Union of Gagauzia movement Petrov, one of 8 candidates, should be held in the autonomous republic. Turkic-speaking autonomy arose in 1994, when a wave of nationalism swept over Moldova and Chisinau adopted unpopular laws that infringe on the Russian language. The unrecognized republic became an autonomy, received its own parliament and the head of the executive branch (bashkan), who is also part of the country’s government. According to the 2004 census, there were 155.6 thousand Gagauz in the Republic of Moldova.
In a referendum in 2014, Gagauzians voted in favor of joining the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. The autonomy has never hidden its sympathy for Russia. The current leader of the ATO, Irina Vlakh, went to the polls in 2015 under the slogan “Being together with Russia in our power,” and during the election campaign, State Duma deputies and Russian pop stars came to Gagauzia. The only visit of the President of the country Maia Sandu to Comrat in September 2022 ended in a scandal – the leader of the country did not meet with the head of the autonomy. The current Moldovan authorities do not officially support any candidate in the upcoming elections. In his video, Minnikhanov actually supports Petrov.
“It’s a very recognizable style. There is an attitude that the Gagauz autonomy should be suppressed as much as possible”
In a conversation with BUSINESS Online, experts commented on the incident, explained the behavior of the Moldovan authorities and discussed whether Moscow should respond to what happened.
Fedor Lukyanov is the editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs magazine:
– In the last year, shortly after the start of the NWO, the Moldovan government, which had previously tried to somehow maneuver, took a very clear, clearly anti-Russian position. And since then, the choice has been made, regardless of the fact that Moldova depends on Russia in economic and energy terms. Further, their policy was determined by the priorities and principles that guide unfriendly countries. Since the head of Tatarstan is a high-ranking Russian statesman, accordingly, they hastened to apply punitive restrictive measures to him. In addition, there is probably a factor that they consider Minnikhanov’s visit to the Turkic-speaking region of Gagauzia to be something of an attempt at influence. Under this sauce, they prevent him.
The visit was coordinated with Gagauzia. I do not think that it was agreed with Chisinau, and then they changed their minds. It seems to me that Minnikhanov flew there, proceeding from the fact that we have a visa-free regime and free movement, and it is not necessary to coordinate any visits with Chisinau. It is difficult to say how far this will all go, given that Moldova is an extremely dependent country on Russia, within which there are also many unrest. But here Moldova behaves consistently.
I don’t know how Russia should respond. It seems to me that the reasons for bad relations with Moldova are already above our heads. Probably, it is possible to introduce some kind of black lists on their leadership. But, in general, this is such a game of thimbles. Russia will accordingly respond to the policy of Moldova and support the opposition forces there – both in the same Gagauzia and in Chisinau too. This will be the answer. And all sorts of demonstrative gestures in response – you can, but what’s the point?
Dmitry Ofitserov-Belsky – Researcher at IMEMO RAS:
– I must say that the behavior of Moldova is not at all surprising. But that hasn’t happened in a long time. Although the practice itself of not letting Russian representatives and citizens in is actually very old. It was back in those days when the country was under the rule of the oligarch Plahotniuc (former leader of the Democratic Party of Moldova, fugitive oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc – ed.), who tried to pursue both pro-Russian and pro-Western policies. But mostly pro-Western. There were many such precedents. Now the authorities of Moldova have taken up the old. But I can’t say that they can get at least some benefit from it. Will relations between countries get even worse? Hardly. Because the relationship is almost non-existent. Now there will be even more motives to keep Moldovan products out of the Russian market. But fundamentally, nothing will change from this.
It is not surprising that Minnikhanov was going to visit Gagauzia. The Gagauz are an Orthodox Turkic people living autonomously in the south of Moldova. Their autonomy is now being fought in the Moldovan leadership. And in the prospects of joining Moldova to Romania, the Gagauz are an even bigger problem than Transnistria. The Gagauz have great sympathy for Russia, and relations with them have always been built somewhat differently than with official Chisinau. For example, in 2006 we stopped importing Moldovan agricultural products and wines due to the high content of pesticides, and after additional checks, products from Gagauzia continued to go. There was such a diversified approach. I think that it will continue regardless of the failed visit and everything that is happening.
Is Minnikhanov’s unfolding a demonstration performance? Certainly yes. It’s a very recognizable style. Like, you come, and at the airport they turn back. And the point is not whether Moldova’s policy is pro-Western or not. You can be a pro-Romanian politician, but you can’t afford such things. But there is an attitude that the Gagauz autonomy should be suppressed as much as possible. Gagauzia is perceived as a kind of threat to the unity of Moldova. And if they also have contracts, then these will be established alternative economic ties, bypassing Chisinau.
Vladimir Bruter – political scientist, expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies:
– The Moldovan authorities will do everything possible to spoil relations with Russia. They want to show how strong they are and how they can take part in containing Russia without letting in a prominent official. And this is just a small piece of the whole picture. Russia, on the other hand, knows everything and prefers not to answer yet, saying that it is always disposed towards friendly relations with Moldova. And the current authorities do not represent Moldova. Russia simply wants Moldova to be allowed to calmly pursue a course towards normal relations with it, which the West, of course, does not want to do.