KYIV (Reuters) – Power outages will continue on Saturday in the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria, which has been deprived of Russian gas supplies due to Ukraine’s decision not to extend a Russian gas transit contract, local authorities said.

The flow of Russian gas through Ukraine to Central and Eastern Europe was halted on New Year’s Day after a transit agreement between the warring countries expired and Kiev refused to do any more business with Moscow.

The Transnistrian authorities announced that the first gradual power cuts came into force on Friday evening.

The mainly Russian-speaking region along the Moldovan-Ukrainian border, which split from Moldova in the 1990s, received Russian gas through Ukraine and used it to produce electricity.

The official news channel of the Transnistrian government on Telegram reported that electricity supplies would be turned off for three hours in many districts between 12:00 and 17:00.

The self-proclaimed president of the enclave, Vadim Krasnoselsky, previously said that power outages were inevitable. He said the region had enough gas reserves to last 10 days of confined utilize in the north and twice as long in the south. He did not say whether there would be any resupply plans after that date.

On Saturday, Krasnoselsky said on Telegram that power outages could extend to four hours on Sunday.

Russia denies using gas as a weapon to put pressure on Moldova and blames Kiev for refusing to extend the gas transit agreement.

Moldova itself meets about 60% of its gas needs from Romania and produces the rest. However, power outages in Transnistria are a problem for Moldova, especially because the enclave is home to a power plant that supplies most of the power to government-controlled areas of Moldova at a fixed and low price.

Prime Minister Dorin Recean said on Friday that his country was facing a security crisis after Transnistria imposed rolling blackouts, but also said that the Chisinau government had prepared alternative arrangements that would include domestic production and electricity imports from Romania.

Moldova claims that the Russian gas company Gazprom (MCX:) could supply gas bypassing Ukraine, but has deliberately chosen not to do so. Even before Ukraine suspended deliveries, Gazprom announced on December 28 that it would suspend exports to Moldova on January 1 due to – according to Russia – Moldova’s unpaid debts of $709 million.

Moldova disputes this and puts the amount at $8.6 million.