KYIV (Reuters) -Moldova faces a security crisis, Prime Minister Dorin Recean said on Friday after its separatist pro-Moscow Transdniestria region, cut off from supplies of Russian gas, closed factories, restricted central heating and imposed rolling power blackouts.
Flows of Russian gas via Ukraine to central and eastern Europe were halted on New Year’s Day after a transit agreement between the warring countries expired, and Kyiv rejected doing further business with Moscow.
Recean said government-controlled Moldova would cover its own energy needs with domestic production and imports but noted the separatist Transdniestria region had suffered a painful hit despite its ties with Moscow.
“By jeopardising the future of the protectorate it has backed for three decades in an effort to destabilise Moldova, Russia is revealing the inevitable outcome for all its allies – betrayal and isolation,” Recean said in a statement.
“We treat this as a security crisis aimed at enabling the return of pro-Russian forces to power in Moldova and weaponising our territory against Ukraine, with whom we share a 1,200 km (745-mile) border.”
The official Telegram news channel of separatist Transdniestria said rolling power cuts had gone into effect on Friday evening. It listed districts where power would be cut for an hour or more between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.
“As the Ministry of Economic Development notes, this is in connection with the fact that residents at this time are consuming more power than the system can generate,” the channel said.
The news channel said a sanatorium, fully heated and with hot water, was sheltering orphans and residents of nursing homes. It accused Moldova’s central government of failing to understand or tackle the difficulties facing the region.
“Moldovan authorities are completely out of touch with reality and continue to talk about ‘the price of freedom from Russian gas,'” the channel said.
Transdniestria’s residents had already lost hot water and
central heating, and all factories except food producers have
been forced to stop production.
The enclave’s self-styled president, Vadim Krasnoselsky, had earlier said power cuts were inevitable. He said the region had gas reserves to cover 10 days of limited usage in the north and twice as long in the south
Russia denies using gas as a weapon to coerce Moldova, and blames Kyiv for refusing to renew the gas transit deal.
DISPUTE OVER ARREARS
Russian gas giant Gazprom had separately said on Dec. 28 that it would suspend exports to Moldova on Jan. 1 because of what Russia says are unpaid Moldovan debts of $709 million. Moldova disputes that, and has put the figure at $8.6 million.
The southeast European nation of about 2.5 million people has been in the spotlight since Russia’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine at a time of mounting tensions between Moscow and the West.
Its pro-European President Maia Sandu won a second term in an election last year and has pledged to accelerate reform and consolidate democratisation.
Moldova plans to hold a parliamentary election this summer.
Mainly Russian-speaking Transdniestria, which split from Moldova in the 1990s, received Russian gas via Ukraine.
In turn, Moldova used to receive the bulk of its electricity from Transdniestria. But, with Kyiv making clear it would stop gas transit from Russia, the Chisinau government prepared alternative arrangements, with a mixture of domestic production and electricity imports from Romania, Recean said.
He said the Moldovan government remained committed to helping the enclave.
“Alternative energy solutions, such as biomass systems, generators, humanitarian aid, and essential medical supplies, are ready for delivery should the breakaway leadership accept the support,” the government said in a statement.
The head of Moldova’s national gas company Moldovagaz, Vadim Ceban, said Transdniestrian authorities had turned down an offer to help purchase gas from European countries because the enclave believes Russian gas supplies could still be resumed.
Such purchases would be more costly. Gazprom has long supplied gas to the region without demanding payment.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash; Additional reporting by Alexander Tanas; Editing by Jason Neely, Alison Williams, Ron Popeski, Cynthia Osterman and Sandra Maler)
