(Reuters) – Authorities in Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region said on Saturday that energy-saving measures had allowed them to ease restrictions caused by a suspension of Russian gas supplies, while further reducing the duration of rolling power outages.
Moldova’s pro-European central government has renewed its criticism of Russia, claiming it caused the energy crisis, and now wants to portray itself as a force that has come to the rescue of the separatist region.
Transnistria, which separated from Moldova at the end of Soviet rule, depends on Russian gas sent through Ukraine. The authorities of Ukraine, which has been embroiled in a 34-month-long conflict with Russia, have refused to extend the transit agreement until 2025.
The Russian gas giant Gazprom (MCX:) has stated that it will not send gas to Moldova via alternative routes, citing what it calls Moldova’s arrears of USD 709 million. Moldova, which condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, disputes this figure.
Pro-Russian Transnistrian leaders, reporting on the region’s official Telegram channel, said daily power outages would be reduced to three hours on Sunday. Power outages that lasted eight hours earlier this week were reduced to five hours on Friday.
“With the current super-efficient consumption, Transnistria has enough gas until the end of January,” she quoted First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Obolonik as saying.
Many factories have switched to night shifts when there is less strain on the power grid, but authorities said one plant, a cement producer in Rybnica, was closed.
A steelworks that was crucial for the region was also closed in the city.
Russian gas supplied to the separatist region powered a thermal power plant that provided electricity for both Transnistria and most of the needs of government-controlled regions.
MOLDOVA HOLDS RUSSIA RESPONSIBLE
Daniel Voda, press secretary of the central government of Moldova, said that suggestions that Russia might relent and eventually send gas to Transnistria do not change Moscow’s responsibility for the energy crisis.
“Every time Russia wants to show its power, it cuts off essential resources and turns people into hostages,” Voda told Nokta media.
“This is an experiment involving humans that shows that Moscow is not worried about the comfort and safety of its residents. (…) Nobody deserves to live in fear and cold.”
The government of Moldova has accused Russia of artificially causing an energy crisis in order to destabilize the country before the parliamentary elections this summer. It has offered aid to Transnistria in solving the problem of electricity shortages, but the leaders of the separatist region deny receiving any official offers.
Moldova’s President Maia Sandu said that Gazprom could supply gas to Transnistria via an alternative route, i.e. the Turkstream pipeline through Turkey and then Bulgaria and Romania.
Transnistria fought a brief war with Moldovan government forces in 1992 and still hosts 1,500 Russian troops in the small territory neighboring Ukraine.
