Ukraine’s suspension of Russian gas plunges Transnistria into a crisis

The separatist region of Moldova Transnistria was involved in a deep energy crisis after termination of the five-year gas transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the predominantly Russian-speaking territory of Transnistria remain without heating and electricity for the rest of the winter months after Ukraine cut off supplies of Russian gas to a number of European countries on New Year’s Day.

A widely anticipated stop, which it was confirmed Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom ended Moscow’s ten-year dominance of Europe’s energy markets on Wednesday.

Nearby Slovakia and Austria, Moldova bldg thought to be one of the countries that are most prone to the risk of stopping Russian gas supplies.

A landlocked country in the northeastern corner of the Balkan region of Europe declared A 60-day state of emergency last month over energy security concerns.

Transnistria, a separatist pro-Russian enclave in Moldova, broke away in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union, although it is still internationally recognized as part of Moldova.

The region was forced to close almost all industrial facilities, except for food producers, after Russian gas supplies were cut off on Wednesday.

“All industrial enterprises are idle, except for those engaged in the production of food products – that is, directly ensuring the food security of Transnistria,” First Deputy Prime Minister of the region Siarhei Obolonik said on the air of the local news TV channel on Thursday. Reuters.

“It is still too early to judge how the situation will develop… The problem is so large-scale that if it is not solved for a long time, we will already have irreversible changes – that is, enterprises will lose the opportunity to start up. .”

Until Wednesday, Russian gas entered Moldova through neighboring Ukraine. However, neither Moscow nor Kyiv wanted to conclude a new gas transit deal the war continues.

Russia, which has been transporting gas to Europe through Ukrainian pipelines since 1991, claims that EU countries will suffer the most from the change in supplies. Moscow can still send gas through the Turkish Stream pipeline, which connects Russia to Hungary, Serbia and Turkey.

The European Commission, the executive body of the EU, said it is working with EU member states most affected by the end of the gas transit agreement to make sure the entire 27-nation bloc was prepared for such a scenario.

Moldova, which is not a member of the EU, but voted narrowly in favor of closer ties with the EU in a referendum last year, now faces significant gas shortages.

In Transnistria, the leader of the separatist region is Vadim Krasnaselsky said on Telegram on Thursday said the situation was “difficult, but social collapse is unacceptable.”

Krasnaselsky said that more than 2,600 people are now without heat and hot water in the region. objects, of which there are more than 1.5 thousand. – apartment buildings.

Krasnoselski said on Wednesday that Transnistria’s main power plant had started using coal after Russian gas was cut off, and estimated that the enclave had enough gas reserves to last 10 days of limited use in its northern parts and twice that in the south.

“In Transnistria, the year began with a serious test – the energy crisis, provoked by an unfavorable combination of external factors,” said Krasnaselsky, according to the translation.

Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Rechan said on Friday that the country was facing a security crisis after Russian gas flows through Ukraine were halted, and accused the Kremlin of “gas blackmail”.

In a statement on the Recean government website warned of an impending humanitarian crisis for 350,000 residents of the Transnistrian region.

“By jeopardizing the future of the protectorate it has supported for three decades in an attempt to destabilize Moldova, Russia is showing the inevitable outcome for all its allies – betrayal and isolation,” Rechan said.

“We see this as a security crisis aimed at returning pro-Russian forces to power in Moldova and arming our territory against Ukraine, with which we share a 1,200 km border,” he added.

A spokesman for the Russian Embassy in London was not available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

The Prime Minister of Moldova said that the country managed to ensure electricity supply in the first days of 2025, with half of the country’s energy consumption covered by domestic sources and the other half by imports.

Parliament of the country said At the end of last year, the termination of the supply of Russian gas to the Transnistrian region could cause a “humanitarian crisis” as well as “risks for the functioning and stability” of Moldova’s energy sector.

Parliamentary elections in Moldova will be held in the coming months. The vote should shape the country’s future relationship with the EU.

In early November last year, the leaders of Europe congratulated current pro-Western president Maya Sandu about winning the second round of presidential elections in the country. The ballot was seen as another step on the former Soviet republic’s path to integration with the bloc.

— CNBC’s Holly Elliott contributed to this report.