Authorities in Moldova’s Transdniestria region cut off gas supplies to several state institutions on Sunday, Reuters reported.
The development comes as the deal allowing Russian gas to transit through Ukraine comes to an end on Tuesday.
The supply was cut off two days before the deal expires on Tuesday and was followed by Ukraine’s decision to not renew it during the ongoing war against Moscow.
Power cut concerns
According to the report, the cut-off of supply has raised concerns about mass power cuts in Moldova during the New Year.
Moldova is a former Soviet state, situated between Russia and Romania.
Tiraspoltransgaz distributes gas in the pro-Russian separatist region. said 12 state institutions were cut off around the towns of Dubasari and Bender, on the border with government areas of Moldova, according to Reuters.
These included four educational institutions, a medical facility, a police station, and a prosecutor’s office.
Dispute over payment arrears
Supply was cut off a day after Russia’s Gazprom said it would suspend exports to Moldova from January 1 due to unpaid debt.
Moldova had disputed allegations of arrears for gas imports from Russia in the past. It also accused Moscow of destabilising the country.
Moldova imports around 2 billion cubic metres of gas annually from Russia, which was piped via Ukraine to pro-Russian separatist Transdniestria, the report said.
A thermal plant in Transdniestria produced cheap power with Russian imports and sold it to government-run parts of Moldova.
Former Energy Minister Victor Parlicov was quoted in the Reuters report:
The Kremlin’s real goal here is to destabilise Moldova and plunge it into chaos.
Parlicov was sacked for failing to resolve the energy crisis after meeting the head of Gazprom in November.
However, Moscow denied all such allegations from Moldova, according to the report.
Both Moldova and Transdniestria have imposed an economic state of emergency, which included reducing power consumption during the peak hours in these areas.
Gazprom’s claim that Moldova had accumulated arrears of $709 million was dismissed by Parlicov, according to the report.
He added that all gas imports were directed to separatist Transdniestria since 2022.
According to Reuters, Moldova had diversified its gas imports, with supplies coming in from the likes of Romania and other countries as well.
Moldova dismisses Gazprom claims
Moldova claims that an international audit of its transactions with Gazprom puts the payment arrears at $8.6 million, significantly lower than Gazprom’s figure.
Moldova’s Prime Minister Dorin Recean condemned Gazprom’s decision to suspend gas supplies from January 1.
This is also intended for Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and Italy.
Moldova has also requested Gazprom to consider different routes for supplying gas.
It has suggested the Turkstream pipeline in Turkey and from there via Bulgaria and Romania, Reuters reported.
There has been criticism from Russia and Slovakia towards Ukraine’s decision to not renew the gas transit deal between Moscow and Kyiv once it ends on December 31, 2024.
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