Prime Minister Dorin Racine said on Friday that Moldova was facing a security crisis, with its separatist pro-Moscow Transdniestria region cut off from Russian gas supplies, factories closed, central heating restricted. and a rolling power blackout has been imposed.
The flow of Russian gas through Ukraine to Central and Eastern Europe was halted on New Year’s Day as a transit agreement between the warring countries expired and Kiev refused to allow further trade with Moscow.
Reken said government-controlled Moldova would meet its energy needs with domestic production and imports, but noted that the separatist Transdniestria region had suffered a painful blow despite ties to Moscow.
“By jeopardizing the future of the protectorate it has supported for three decades in an effort to destabilize Moldova, Russia is exposing itself to inevitable consequences – betrayal and isolation – for all of its allies,” Ryken said in a statement.
“We see this as a security crisis aimed at enabling the return of pro-Russian forces to power in Moldova and weaponizing our territory against Ukraine, with which we share a 1,200-kilometre border.”
The official Telegram news channel of separatist Transdniestria said the power cuts went into effect Friday evening. It lists the districts where there will be power cut for an hour or more between 6 pm and 10 pm.
“As the Ministry of Economic Development notes, this is in connection with the fact that residents are currently consuming more electricity than the system can generate,” the channel said.
The news channel said a sanatorium, fully heated and with hot water, was sheltering orphans and nursing home residents. It accused Moldova’s central government of failing to understand or deal with the region’s difficulties.
“Moldovan officials are completely out of touch with reality and continue to talk about ‘the price of liberation from Russian gas’,” the channel said.
Residents of Transdniestria already lacked hot water and central heating, and all factories except food producers have been forced to cease production.
Vadim Krasnoselsky, the enclave’s self-proclaimed chairman, had earlier said that power cuts were inevitable. He said the field has gas reserves for 10 days of limited use in the north and double that in the south.
Russia has denied using gas as a weapon to pressure Moldova and has blamed Kiev for refusing to renew a gas transit agreement.
dispute regarding dues
Separately on December 28, Russian gas giant Gazprom said it would suspend exports to Moldova on January 1 because Russia says a $709 million Moldovan loan has not been repaid. Moldova has denied this and put the figure at $8.6 million.
The south-eastern European country of about 2.5 million people has been in the headlines since Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine at a time of rising tensions between Moscow and the West.
Its pro-European President Maia Sandu won a second term in elections last year and has promised to accelerate reforms and strengthen democratization.
Moldova is planning to hold parliamentary elections this summer.
Primarily Russian-speaking Transdniestria, which broke away from Moldova in the 1990s, receives Russian gas through Ukraine.
In return, Moldova received most of its electricity from Transdniestria. But after Kiev made clear it would stop gas transit from Russia, the Chisinau government prepared alternative arrangements with a mix of domestic production and electricity imports from Romania, Reken said.
He said the Moldovan government is committed to helping the enclave.
“Alternative energy solutions, such as biomass systems, generators, humanitarian aid and essential medical supplies, are ready for delivery, provided the separated leadership accepts support,” the government said in a statement.
The head of MoldovaGaz, Moldova’s national gas company, said Transdniestrian officials have turned down an offer to help buy gas from European countries because the enclave believes Russian gas supplies have yet to be resumed. May go.
Such purchases will be more expensive. Gazprom has long supplied gas to the region without demanding payment.