Russian gas cutoff leaves thousands without heat and power in Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region
Moldova’s Transnistria has faced mass heating, hot water, and electricity outages since the halt of Russian gas flow to the breakaway region on January 1. The cutoff came after Kyiv refused to renew its gas transit agreement with Moscow, allowing it to expire at the start of 2025. However, in late December, Russia’s state energy giant Gazprom announced plans to stop deliveries to all of Moldova, citing a dispute over Chisinau’s gas debt.
Since Russian gas stopped flowing through Ukraine on New Year’s Day, Transnistria residents have taken to TikTok, posting videos of their new electric heaters and saying goodbye to their gas stoves. More than 1,500 residential high-rises in the region have been left without heating and hot water, and more than 70,000 homes are without gas. School holidays have been extended until January 19, as 131 schools and 147 kindergartens remain without heating.
The breakaway region is also experiencing power outages, and the authorities announced rolling blackouts starting on January 3. According to Transnistria’s leader, Vadim Krasnoselsky, residents are currently consuming a third more electricity than the local power grid normally produces. While the planned blackouts were supposed to last for one hour in the evenings, certain neighborhoods have been left without power for three or four hours at a time.
Moldova-based journalist Vladimir Solovyov reported that residents left without heating have turned to electrical appliances, driving up electricity consumption. “Hospitals are operating, they’re supplied with both gas and electricity, and the schools are on holiday right now; all industry has ground to a halt — with the exception of enterprises producing food,” Solovyov said. According to the journalist, the extended blackouts have also left high-rise residents unable to adequately heat their homes amid freezing winter temperatures.
Russia’s Gazprom previously supplied Transnistria with gas via Ukraine, but the region’s energy company, Tiraspoltransgaz, didn’t pay for the deliveries. In late December, however, Gazprom warned its Moldovan subsidiary, Moldovagaz, that it would halt all gas supplies from January 1, citing Chisinau’s alleged refusal to pay some $709 million in debt.
Moldova maintains that according to an international audit, it only owes Gazprom $8.6 million. And though Transnistria is now facing an energy crisis, the rest of the country is not experiencing gas shortages, having taken steps to diversify supplies following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
On January 5, Moldova’s secretary of state for energy, Constantin Borosan, told reporters that Transnistria’s energy company ignored a proposal in December that would have allowed it to buy gas from Romania in the event that Russia cut off supplies. Earlier, Moldovagaz CEO Vadim Ceban said that Tiraspoltransgaz also rejected his company’s offer to facilitate “the purchase of natural gas on any European gas platform” to supply the left bank of Dniester River. “They justified their refusal by saying that they’re still waiting for Gazprom to restore natural gas supplies and recommend continuing negotiations with Gazprom,” Ceban explained.
In a statement on January 6, the Russian Embassy in Moldova blamed Chisinau for the energy crisis in Transnistria, accusing Moldovan officials of “deliberately ignoring numerous problems in their relations with Gazprom.” The statement also blamed Ukraine and the “collective West” for creating an “artificial” crisis in the breakaway region.
According to Sergey Obolonik, Transnistria’s first deputy prime minister, the region’s gas reserves could last for 20 days in the south and 10 days in the north, “if used sparingly.” But Krasnoselsky has warned that a “technical malfunction” or “fire” at the region’s main power station could leave Transnistria “without any electricity at all.” Locals have begun buying up electrical appliances and firewood, and Krasnoselsky himself has urged residents to use wood stoves for heating. The Transnistrian leader has also scheduled a security council meeting for January 8.
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