Flow regulating valves at a natural gas metering station in Moldova.
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Breakaway region of Moldova Transnistria It has been thrust into a deep energy crisis in the aftermath Termination of the five-year gas transportation agreement Between Russia and Ukraine.
Hundreds of thousands of people in the Russian-speaking Transnistria region face the remaining winter months without heat or electricity after Ukraine halted the flow of Russian gas to several European countries on New Year's Day.
The widely expected stop which was certain The agreement announced by Russian energy giant Gazprom on Wednesday marked the end of Moscow's decades-long dominance of European energy markets.
side by side Slovakia And Austria, it was Moldova belief To be one of the countries most at risk from the interruption of Russian gas supplies.
The landlocked country is in the northeastern corner of the Balkan region of Europe Announce A 60-day state of emergency was declared last month due to concerns about energy security.
Transnistria, a pro-Russian breakaway region in Moldova, broke away in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union, although it remains internationally recognized as part of Moldova.
The region has now been forced to close almost all industrial companies, with the exception of food producers, after Russian gas supplies were cut off on Wednesday.
“All industrial enterprises are idle, except for those engaged in food production, that is, directly ensuring food security in Transdniestria,” Sergei Opolonik, the region’s first deputy prime minister, told a local news channel on Thursday. Reuters.
“It is too early to judge how the situation will develop… The problem is so widespread that if it is not resolved for a long time, we will already see irreversible changes – that is, companies will lose their ability to start.”
“serious test”
Until Wednesday, Russian gas was arriving in Moldova via neighboring Ukraine. However, neither Moscow nor Kiev was willing to conclude a new gas transportation deal amid the crisis The ongoing war.
Russia, which has been transporting gas to Europe via Ukrainian pipelines since 1991, claimed that EU countries would suffer most from the shift in supply. Moscow can still send gas via the TurkStream pipeline, which connects Russia to Hungary, Serbia and Turkey.
The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, He said It has worked with the EU member states most affected by the end of the gas transit agreement to ensure the entire 27-nation bloc is prepared for such a scenario.
A truck drives across a bridge over the Dniester River, heading toward the unrecognized and Russian-occupied Transnistrian region of Moldova, also known as the Pridnestrovian-Moldavian Republic on October 17, 2024 in Vadul Loi Voda, Moldova.
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Moldova, which is not a member state of the European Union however The vote was narrowly passed Türkiye, which supports closer relations with the European Union in a referendum held last year, faces a major gas shortage.
In Transnistria, the leader of the separatist region, Vadim Krasnoselsky He said He expressed on Telegram on Thursday that the situation is “difficult, but social collapse is unacceptable.”
Krasnoselsky said that more than 2,600 facilities in the region were currently without heat and hot water, including more than 1,500 residential buildings.
He said on Wednesday that Transnistria's main power plant had begun using coal after Russian gas supplies were halted, and estimated that the enclave had enough gas reserves for 10 days of limited use in its northern parts and twice as much in the south.
“In Transnistria, the year began with a serious test – an energy crisis provoked by an unfavorable set of external factors,” Krasnoselsky said, according to a translation.
Moldova elections
Prime Minister of Moldova Doreen Resian He said Friday that the country is facing a security crisis after the flow of Russian gas through Ukraine stopped, and the Kremlin was accused of “gas blackmail.”
In a statement on the government's website, Resin warned of an impending humanitarian crisis for the Transnistrian region's 350,000 residents.
“By jeopardizing the future of the protectorate it has supported for three decades in an attempt to destabilize Moldova, Russia is revealing the inevitable outcome for all its allies – betrayal and isolation,” Resian said.
He added: “We are treating this as a security crisis aimed at enabling the return of pro-Russian forces to power in Moldova and arming our territory against Ukraine, with which we share a 1,200-kilometre border.”
The Prime Minister of Moldova said that the country has managed to secure its electricity supply in the first days of 2025, with half of the country's energy consumption covered by domestic sources and the other half coming from imports.
A spokesperson for the Russian Embassy in London was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
Dorin Risin, Prime Minister of Moldova, speaks during the United Nations General Assembly in New York, United States, on Friday, September 27, 2024.
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The country's parliament He said Late last year, Russia warned that halting Russian gas supplies to the Transnistria region could generate a “humanitarian crisis” as well as “risks to the functioning and stability” of Moldova’s energy sector.
Moldova, located between Russia and Ukraine, is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections in the coming months. The vote is poised to shape the country's future relationship with the European Union.
In early November last year, European leaders here Maia Sandu, pro-Western, wins the country's presidential election runoff. The vote was considered another step on the path of the former Soviet republic towards integration with the bloc.
— CNBC's Holly Eliatt contributed to this report.
