Transnistria, a pro-Russian separatist territory in Moldova, announced this Saturday, January 4, that it would introduce new power cuts for the population due to the cessation of deliveries of Russian gas, vital for its half-million inhabitants.
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New cuts took place “ for three hours ”, between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. (12 p.m.-3 p.m. UT), announced the separatist government of Transnistria on Telegram. “ One-hour breaks are not enough to ensure the safety of the power supply system “, justified the leader of the separatists, Vadim Krasnosselski, in a press release. “ The specialists insist that, from tomorrow, (the duration) of the cuts be increased to four hours “, he also clarified.
This small territory which has escaped the control of the capital Chisinau since the fall of the USSR had already shut down many industrial companies on Thursday due to the lack of electricity. Then on Friday, she introduced the first power cuts for the population. “ Residents of the republic currently consume more electricity than the energy system produces », had justified the Ministry of the Economy of this separatist territory.
The Russian giant Gazprom has until now supplied Transnistria with gas via the local supplier Tiraspoltransgaz, without this company paying for these deliveries. As Transnistria was not recognized by the international community, the secessionist entity sent payment requests to Chisinau, increasing the debt of the Moldova towards Gazprom. The conflict over the amount of the debt to settle with Gazprom – estimated at more than 700 million dollars by Moscow but estimated at only around 9 million by Chisinau – pushed the Russian giant to turn off the tap from January 1st.
The rest of Moldova has so far been spared from the cuts, notably thanks to help from neighboring Romania and after taking drastic measures to reduce consumption in the country. Excluding Transnistria, Moldova has already no longer received Russian gas since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in 2022, but depends for a large part of its electricity needs on the Cuciurgan thermal power plant, located in Transnistria.
There Russia also stopped its gas deliveries to the European Union via Ukraine, after the expiration of a transit contract signed between the two parties at the end of 2019 and which kyiv refused to renew. This ruling is of great concern to several Eastern European countries, including the Slovakia.
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