FACT CHECK: Pro-Russia governor of Gagauzia falsely claims Moldovans don’t want to join EU.

Moldova is expected to hold a nation-wide referendum on membership in the European Union alongside presidential elections this fall.

President Maia Sandu, who’s seeking reelection, has focused anti-corruption reforms and foreign policy on reducing Russian influence and distancing the nation from its Soviet past. She hopes joining the EU will “prevent future governments from derailing Moldova from its European trajectory.”

An avid supporter of Ukraine, Sandu has been pursuing Moldova’s EU membership since taking the office in 2020.

The EU granted Moldova candidate status in 2022. Tens of thousands of Moldovans rallied in support of national EU aspirations in May 2023, after the European Council announced it was launching the accession negotiations — the final stage in the EU membership process.

Evgenia Guțul, the pro-Kremlin head of Moldova’s ethnic minority enclave of Gagauzia firmly opposes Moldova’s EU accession efforts, claiming a lack of popular support for the move.

"I would like to note that I and many residents, and even the majority of residents of Gagauzia, and even in Moldova, are against Moldova joining the European Union,” Gutul told the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti on April 10.

That is false.

Eight public opinion polls conducted in Moldova between September 2021 and January 2024 showed that 56-to-63% of responders supported EU membership. Surveys conducted after Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine showed a significant expansion of support for EU membership. #factcheck #voanews

www.polygraph.info/a/fact-check-pro-russia-governor-of-gagauzia-falsely-claims-moldovans-don-t-want-to-join-eu/7574363.html

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